Showing posts with label Homer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homer. Show all posts
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Summer on the Spit
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Too Much Excitement for Small Town Alaska
Today, it was very hazy outside, I assume from smoke. I stepped outside and was shocked at how warm it felt. It was over 60F, and it felt...muggy. It was an odd weather pattern for Homer. It stayed warm like that all day. When I checked the temperature at 7:30pm, it was almost 70, despite the cloudy skies.
In other news, I am appalled today, at what has occurred in the past 24 hours. The shooting at the Dark Knight Rises showing is horrible. I feel so bad for the families of the victims and wounded. A thought that continued to cross my mind today was also..compassion for the shooter. I expect that is an uncommon reaction to this situation, but what on earth happened to the guy to convince him that what he did was a good idea? =/
And then, in Alaska this week, last week, we had a local man shot to death in his house, and I assume there are no suspects. On July 10, we had a float plane crash into Beluga Lake killing a woman on board. Then, this past Sunday, a lady drove erratically down the highway, and ended up in a shootout with a trooper, and the highway was closed for several hours. Today, a man kidnapped and carjacked an 18 year old in Anchorage, made the kid drive down the highway, and the kid ended up escaping and driving back to Anchorage, leaving the kidnapper there. The highway was on lockdown for a few hours and the kidnapper is still at large at this point in time.
What the heck is going on down here on my peaceful Peninsula?!
Many evenings in the past several weeks have been spent watching Mases stream on Twitch. It is fun to watch him stream random old games and interact with the chat, including participants we enjoyed getting to know during our marathon. It's been a fun way to relax after a long day.
We went to the beach two nights ago with the youth group. It was lots of fun, and the weather was lovely down there! I love going to the beach when it is actually warm!
The week previous, I played volleyball for the first time in years, and from my first hit, it was a baaad idea. I hit the ball many times in over an hour and by the end, my arms were very red and they hurt quite badly. By the next morning, the blood rushing down my arms when they were below my heart was quite painful, they were still red and covered in small purple dots..apparently a common occurrence when playing volleyball after your arms are not used to it. Over a week later, the pain is pretty much completely gone, but I bruised pretty good in a few places. It looked bad :P
This past Tuesday was lovely. It was really warm (for here!) and the sun was shining! We ended up going to finally see Brave. It was a matinee showing and we arrived later than we planned, but there was only one family inside the theater with us at first....so we grabbed an open couch (yay!) and settled in. We enjoyed it, laughing throughout and crying at the end. I thought it was a bit much for young viewers. I was impressed that Disney actually had TWO parents for Merida, though the men were stereotypically silly. I'm glad we saw it :)
Welp, that's what's been on my mind lately :)
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Snow Amount on Ohlson Mountain
A friend and I took a drive up East Hill Road a month ago and decided to go see how Ohlson Mountain was doing.
It was a lovely day and the Spit looked nice!
We quickly discovered that the Hill had a TON of snow.
Twists and turns in the road :)
Look at all those tracks on the hill!
Our entertainment on the way back down the hill was to see how buried the street signs were in snow!
Pretty crazy! I am happy to report that it is melting steadily now, or at least it is down here in town!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Anniversary Getaway Photos
It was a lovely time!
4th Anniversary Getaway: Land's End Resort
Tiny bedroom
Tuesday night, C and I took off on a "staycation" for our 4th wedding anniversary. I had originally wanted to run up to Anchorage for 4 days, but C couldn't get the day off, and after my boss's injury, it's just as well. Since our anniversary fell on our weekend, we decided to keep it simple and stay close to home.
Looking to the door from the far wall
I have always wanted to stay at Land's End at the end of the Spit, and so we planned on it :) They run a Getaway Special every winter and that is what we booked: a room, dinner, continental breakfast, glasses of wine with dinner, as well as a couple other services that we didn't utilize.
The balcony!
I initially booked the cheapest room I could get - one overlooking the parking lot! WOO! Justification was that a view was around $40 more, we see the view every day, and it would likely be raining/snowing/foggy and we wouldn't be able to see anything anyway. I stuck to my decision, even though I had little wishes of dealing with it and paying more.
Back of the hotel, on the beach
We left Tuesday afternoon for our adventure on a gorgeous, sunny afternoon, effectively wiping out my visions of cloudy skies. We arrived, and the front desk girl ended up upgrading our room for free, for a reason that I didn't catch!!!!!
Chilly beach walk!
We headed up the narrow stairs and to our room with a view!
I....was less than impressed with the room, to be honest. It was tiny, but all the space was used well, so that was fine. But the decor and paint and such just seemed so out of date, like it had not been updated since the 90s. I really didn't care, but I was surprised at how such an "elegant" resort had such unelegant quarters.
Looking at photos online of the better rooms makes me think they are nice looking, so who knows. The bathroom was very tiny and the lighting was terrible in there.
The wing with our room on it
But we had a balcony! And a view! We headed downstairs and outside for a beach walk in the sunshine. It was a bit chilly and windy, but the sunshine was welcome and good company made it nice.
We came back inside after a bit and went downstairs for dinner in the restaurant. We have both eaten there countless times before, but usually for Local's Night (for cheaper fare).
With dinner included in our room rate, I was happy to not inwardly wince at the prices. C decided on a "petite tender steak" - "bacon wrapped steak with a port demi glaze". I chose chicken gnocchi - "grilled chicken with potato pasta, spinach and mushrooms in a blue cheese cream sauce with spiced pecans".
C's steak, potatoes and veggies
We were less enthused about the wine included...we both hate the taste of alcohol. We both were curious to try something new though, so we asked the waiter for some recommendations. I chose an Alaskan Chardonnay from the local Bear Creek Winery and C got a glass of Marietta Old Vine.
My chicken gnocchi
The food was excellent. C's steak was incredibly tender (like a steak is meant to be!) and the mashed potatoes it came with were just divine. They were both of our favorite parts of the meal! My gnocchi was wonderful as well. The wine....was ok. We didn't drink nearly enough of it (so I'm glad we weren't paying for it outright!) I'm sure it was wonderful to others, but I just can't stand that alcoholic flavor :( It was definitely more bearable with food though!
C at the top of the stairs, overlooking the Bay
We ended dinner stuffed to the max and went back up to our room. We watched our yearly dose of TV (we don't have TV at home) and decided it was bed time after a while. I spent a few minutes taking some night photos from the balcony. I was still in the midst of my awful cold and I ended up coughing so much that I kept both of us up for a long while :( We finally fell asleep, but it wasn't too restful (I hate that about being away from home!)
Us on the balcony outside the room
The next morning, we got up at 8 for the continental breakfast downstairs. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was located in the restaurant, and was a decent spread. When we arrived, there was a group of young men there, laughing a bit loudly, but they were the only others in the entire restaurant, and they quickly departed.
The empty restaurant for breakfast
Muffins, bagels, waffles, instant oatmeal, biscuits and gravy, and scrambled eggs were the main foods available (maybe more?) and so we were satisfied. We ate leisurely, with a few more people wandering in as the morning went on, and then we went back upstairs to get ready to check out.
One side of the continental breakfast
All in all, we had a nice stay. I don't know that we will ever stay there again (on our money at least) but it was a nice experience and I'm glad I can recommend it to others. The food was probably the best part :P
Other side of the breakfast
I will say how happy I was with a view room....I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would...though I really should have known it would be important to me since I was constantly gazing outside for wildlife, and watching the sunset and such.
Land's End
It was great to get away and celebrate our relationship, and I'm glad we did it! I'll post another post hopefully tomorrow of more nature photos I took on our getaway, and not just photos of the hotel!
Harbor and Spit - January 29
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Winter Carnival Parade 2012
Krewe of Gambrinus: A Social Aid and Pleasure Club
It was a nice parade, full of character as usual!
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