It’s one of those iconic moments few people forget when you come over the top of Baycrest and the grandeur of Kachemak Bay and the Homer Spit come into view.
My wife and I and our dog Peaches saw it for the first time in the early summer of 2017, and we knew we were home even though we’d never before been to the small town of Homer, Alaska. We summited the High Bluff just after 11 p.m. in early May. The golden glow of a late setting sun lit up the mountains with a warm pink hue as the cool blue of the ocean shimmered afoot.
We had just driven 4,500 miles from Atlanta, Georgia with little more than the clothes on our backs, and whatever we could cram into the 5-by-8-foot travel trailer towed behind. We had no jobs. We had no place to live. But we did have a couple of friends who said we could crash on their couch until we got on our feet. So there we were. And here we are, six years later still digging Homer and happy to call it home.
It only took 2 days once we got to town before my wife and I both had summer jobs and an apartment to call our own. We definitely did not know what we were getting ourselves into, but looking back it was one of the best gambles we ever made.
Here’s to many more years in “Home Sweet Homer” and the hope that others find the same splendors in the sights, sounds, and people of Kachemak Bay.
