Homer, Alaska

My final stop on my recent Alaska adventure was Homer. However, before I get to that, I present my weekly logic puzzle.

Logic Puzzle

You have three glasses and ten coins. How can you arrange the coins in the three glass such that each glass has an odd number of coins?

Scroll to the end for the answer

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Homer

One place in Alaska I have often heard great things about is Homer. It is located a four-hour drive south of Anchorage on the Kenai peninsula.

After my visit to Sitka, which I wrote about in my June 19, 2025 newsletter, I flew from there to Anchorage. From Anchorage, I took an airport shuttle to Homer.

When I arrived in Homer, at the Safeway where I was dropped off by the airport shuttle van, it was pouring rain and still about four hours before I could check into my Air BnB. It was a Sunday and few restaurants were open. An Internet search lead me to an Italian restaurant named Fat Olives, which was located about a half mile away and close to my AirBnB.

As I walked down the Sterling Highway hauling my big suitcase a kind man in a pickup truck stopped and offered me a ride. You would never see that happening in Las Vegas if the one trudging through the rain was male. I happily accepted, although I didn’t have that far to go.

By the time I finished a good meal, my host messaged me that I could check in early. My AirBnBwas located in what I will loosely call downtown, near Bishop Beach. The whole city is spread out over a large area. Another significant section of town is located at the end of the Homer Spit.

My first full day in Homer, my main objective was to get to the end of the Homer Spit. This necessitated a six-mile walk. I hoped I could buy a cheap bicycle at a thrift store along the way. However, alas, it was a Monday and the one thrift store in town was closed. Later in my trip I returned, when it was open, and they didn’t have any bicycles anyway.

The end of the spit is where cruise ships dock. Not surprisingly, it is rather touristy. My visit was in early May, when the cruise season still hadn’t quite started, so that part of Homer was still mostly shuttered for the season. I could not find a single place to eat and the end of the spit but there was a food truck selling barbeque on my way back.

Later that day, near my AirBnB,I noticed a store that soldnew electric bikes. Leaning against the stop sign by the store was a rusty old mountain bike that was barely in working condition. Like many places in Alaska, the store was closed on Mondays. I had learned from my long walk that day that a bicycle would sure come in handy. Normally I would have asked at the store about the ownership of that bicycle. However, there was nobody to ask. It truly seemed abandoned to me. However, I gave it until the next day to see if it was still there. Sure enough, the following morning it was still there, but the store was still closed, so I borrowed it without asking.

Much of my trip was spent taking long walks down Bishop Beach, visiting museums and exploring the local breweries and meaderies. My spell checker is incorrectly telling me “meaderies” is not a real word. A meaderyis a like a winery, but serves beverages based on honey. I had never even seen a meadery before and Homer had at least two of them. I have had store-purchased mead before, which was much too thick and sweet. At the homer meaderies, the beverages were light and only moderately sweet. They sold delicious ciders as well. I’d like to put in a very good plug for the SweetgaleMeadworks& Cider House on Main Street where I learned to appreciate good mead.

On my last full day, I took the Alaska ferry from the terminal at the end of the spit to the small landlocked town of Seldovia. I love ferries and did the trip mainly for the journey. Seldovia itself was very small and mostly closed. I had only a few hours there before the return trip, which I used to do the Otter Bahn Trail and look around the very small town.

After returning to Homer, I had a drink at the Salty Dawg Saloon, which seems to be mentioned as a landmark in every article and video about Homer. It had a few salty Alaskan fisherman in it and my waitress was quite sociable. Some reviews complain the service is slow, which I could see being the case during cruise ship season, but I had great service and happy to give it a good review.

On my last evening, I returned the bicycle to the same stop sign that I found it. A taxi took me to the airport, where a three-leg and 18-hour journey took me back to Las Vegas. This included two long layovers in Anchorage and Seattle.

In closing, I give Homer a very positive review. This review may have made it sound a little boring and lacking in things to do, which has some truth to it. Be warned as well that Homer and Alaska in general are rather expensive. However, the people there are very friendly and there is a quirky charm to Homer that is hard to put into words. It is geographically very remote so don’t know if I’ll ever have the chance to return, but would be happy to do so if I’m ever in the area again.

 

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Answer to Logic Puzzle

Put an odd number in two glasses and an even number in one. Then take either glass with an odd number of coins and put it inside the glass with an even number.