What a great day - after having to rise at 8:30 am!! Had the taxi arranged for 9:45 am but he arrived about 5 min early, cutting my breakfast short, so threw my leftover egg salad sandwich into the backpack. Linda had gone up to the office to pay for another day here at Oceanview - 3 nights, it's almost a record long stay for us! But Nick's Taxi arrived to take us to Maco's Water Taxi out on the Spit ($15 but they allow dogs). Turns out the driver lives in our RV park during summer, then moves to a nice condo over the winter. They say it's not bad here during the winter because of the "warmth of the water" - I find the water frigid right now, not sure how it warms them in winter, but they all look healthy! So we are delivered to the Water Taxi dock by 10am, where I finished my breakfast sandwich. Even Sara seemed to sense an adventure and had refused to eat - I would generally avoid carrying any food with us (fear of hungry bears), but hated for her to be starving on the trail, so I carried her food with me. Six people going on our "Extra Tuff" skiff to Kachemak Bay State Park and Grewingk Glacier - 2 women and a Chihuahua (Eagle bait is how the Taxi clerk described the small dog!) who were off for a 2 day Yurt camping experience, another couple and us going only for the day hike to Grewingk Glacier and hoping to be dropped off at 11 am and picked up at 2:30. The other couple turned out to be a Nurse Practitioner and her husband, an Infectious Disease doctor from New Jersey, so we had lots in common, and they loved dogs, so were very affectionate to Sara! First we boated to Gull Island, a rock outcropping with thousands of birds: Puffins, Eagles, Gulls, and Cormorans. When one Eagle flew, flocks flew out in swarms and relanded on the rocks, where they nested and gave quite a show. Then on to the Kachemak Park landing area - as our doctor said, it had visions of the Normandy landing, with the front end of our skiff folding down to the beach, and us being told to "get off, meet up at the Saddle Trailhead this afternoon". So off we went, trusting in the taxi driver and our 2 new friends! The trail was pretty easy, winding through these tall weeds, ferns, and wildflowers of Alaska forest. The bugs did start to get obnoxious half way through the trek, so we stopped to freshen our Backwoods Deet scent, but it just made the bugs cover us more while we stood still. I spritzed Sara also, and then we rushed on - the bugs weren't so bad while you moved. After 1.5 miles, we started to get glimpses of the Glacier field, but when we emerged from the thicket, we were suddenly faced with the glacier lake and floating ice chunks. The temperature dropped about 10 degrees due to the ice fields, but the scene was gorgeous. Again, lots of driftwood around the beach and the blue color of the ice chunks was so unusual. We could also see the reflection of mountains and clouds in the pools of water. We enjoyed the peace of the scene about 30 mins and then started back to the beach by way of the Saddle trail - up over a small mountain, and then down a long descent with switchbacks to the beach. At the very end, a steep staircase put you right into the rocks at the edge of the bay. Two boats came by and did not stop, but finally our water taxi showed and threw out a ladder, telling us to crawl into the end of the Catamaran! Easy enough for me, but lifting Sara (55 lbs) was not so easy - but Taxi driver helped pull her aboard and Taxi Driver's own dog, Louie, greeted her with congratulations! We pulled up the ladder, and took a tour of Halibut Bay before getting back to Homer Spit (about a 45 min ride). It was a great trip and we enjoyed the company of our other hikers so much! We called for our "land" taxi, which had a 20 min delay, so enjoyed a coffee at the coffee shop next to the dock. A great day for hot coffee!! We arrived back at the RV at 4:30, took a few phone calls, and then set out for dinner in Old Town, a short walk south. The restaurant recommended yesterday, Two Sisters Cafe and Bakery, had a private party tonight, so we settled for AJ's Steakhouse (when we passed yesterday the chef assured us they served fish as well), but found the menu somewhat limited on fish - only local Rockfish or Halibut fish and chips, or Alaskan King Crab legs entree for $54 - so we took the first two dishes and divided the dinners. Both were good, but not great. But good to be well fed and walking home in the sunshine at 8pm, altho it was very cold - thank goodness we wore our winter jackets! Of course, Sara was refreshed and ready for another walk - we'll see after I finish this entry!
Thinking of Becky tonight, hoping surgery went well, sending you our love and thoughts!!