Fishing and Farmer's Markets

Wednesday morning we rode our bikes to the Pratt Museum in town. There is a bunch of really cool exhibits there. One was a live video feed from Gull Island, a island in the bay with thousands of birds on it. The camera allows you to remotely pan and zoom the camera from the Pratt. There was also a live video feed from Brooks Falls where several bears were feeding on the spawning salmon. They also had a good exhibit on the infamous spruce bark beetle, and a depressing collection of black and white photos taken at the Exxon Valdez clean up on Mars Bay. You could also listen to the captain's distress call among other things.


Thursday morning I went on what was advertised to be a "fly fishing" guide service on the Anchor River about 15 miles north of Homer. Meredith wasn't feeling well so she slept while I fished. The taxi picked me up at 4:30 am, met up with the guide in town and was at the river by 5ish. The guide pulls the "fly rods" out of the carrying cases only to reveal that the spool lacked any fly line. Strike one. Then he pulls out the salmon eggs we were using for bait with the "fly rod". Strike two. Then to sound legitimate, he calls the bobbers, "strike indicators". Strike three. He told me I could use a real fly rod at the next river so I went along with it for a while and had fun catching 4 dolly varden, a pink, and a king salmon. From the time is started using the fly rod on no one saw a single fish. Up to that point, however, you could see the salmon and dollies jumping and swirling upstream. Sorry for this rant. However, the guide was very helpful in discussing the health of the salmon fishery and potential global warming implications. Anyways here is a picture of the pink salmon I kept and we ate that afternoon...


Thursday afternoon we were visited by another moose. Apparently it is a a lone yearling that comes through from time to time. We watched him munch on a rose bush for while before it gave Meredith the stink eye (pictured below) and ran off...


Friday morning we ran some errands in town and made some more calls regarding interviews and meeting times with more people. We got in touch with Kyra Wagner who runs SustainableHomer.com and ended up going to her house that afternoon to speak with her about her website and her work. Luckily, she lived on the next street over and had an amazing house. She had a huge garden, chickens, a solar panel which runs their entire house, and a huge plot of land. Talking to her was very interesting, and we learned mostly about the politics behind the Climate Action Plan and how to make the issue of climate change apeal to all demographics.


This morning (Saturday) we went to the farmer's market which we've been to three times now, to see Kyra play in a marumba band. The market is a recent addition to Homer and is "the place to be" on a Saturday morning. It is a great example of the progressive liberal demographic that helped push the Climate Action Plan.