September 15-16, 2015 – Cruise to Alaska (Homer-Kodiak)

Tuesday morning we arrived at Homer at 10:00 and it was cold, cloudy and windy.  We took a Homer Highlights tour.  We started our bus tour with a drive down the Homer Spit and were able to see a couple of the fishing boats that are on the show “Deadliest Catch”. We then stopped at the Pratt Museum which houses more than 30,000 objects in the areas of anthropology, history, art, earth sciences and biology as well as historic photographs of the Kachemak Bay region.  After browsing through the displays in the museum we went outside to view the Harrington cabin that was built in 1935-36.  Inside there were displays of homestead items from hand tools to crochet work and a cook stove.

Our next stop on the tour was the Norman Lowell Gallery where we viewed his impressive collection of large scale paintings which he painted throughout his 50-years in Alaska.  We also were able to visit his original tiny homestead cabin where the Lowell’s raised 5 children.   Mr. Lowell was in his gallery and several on our tour were able to talk to him.  We got a great view of Kachemak Bay from an overlook on the property.

Our last stop was at the Alaska Islands and Oceans Visitor Center where we saw an exhibit and watched a film about the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.  We got back to the Statendam and were glad to get in where it was warm.

After dinner we took in the evening show – a wonderful singer/impersonator/comedian named Tricia Kelly.  This was one of the best shows we have seen so far.

Wednesday morning we arrived in Kodiak at 7 am and were able to watch a beautiful sunrise.  

After breakfast we boarded a school bus for a Kodiak Highlights tour.   We drove down cannery row, past the small boat harbor and into old downtown.  We visited the Baranov Museum to view its mixture of Native, Russian and American exhibits and the Alutiiq Museum for a more in depth look at Alaska Native culture.  The Baranov Museum had the furniture from the Baranov home and also had a display telling about the tsunami that hit Kodiak from the 1964 earthquake.

We also stopped at this small Russian Orthodox Church.

The interior of this church was very ornate.

We next visited Abercrombie State Park at Miller Point.  Fort Abercrombie was established as part of the coastal defense system.   There is not much left here but there was a small museum in one of the munitions bunkers.  The guns were all blown up when the fort was abandoned.

The view from Miller Point was beautiful.

We returned to the Statendam as we are sailing at two this afternoon.   After dinner we were tired so we stayed in our stateroom for the evening.