July 16th,
Wednesday
Decided to spend the day
driving the roads in Homer area, just kept going on the East End road till we
couldn’t go any further. The road was dirt, winding lots of potholes, but well
traveled with gravel trucks and local cars.
On the way back, decided
to stop at the local Farmers Market, lady was buying beets with the tops and we
asked how she cooked up the tops. Said
she didn’t and couldn’t eat all of them, so she pulled off the tops and handed
them to us! We love them, taste like
spinach without all the grit and washing you have to do with spinach. As we were leaving, Lin says the lady at the
front, selling a children’s book, looks like the lady of the Discovery Channel
show, “Alaska, the last Frontier”. We
watch it all the time and love the family and their trials. She is Charlotte Kilcher, Otto’s wife and
they live the homestead life. Didn’t
realize they live in Homer? We asked if
anyone told her looks like the lady on the show and she says,
That’s because I’m that lady!!” lol
Had a good time talking to her, enjoyed
looking at her children’s book that she illustrated and had to get one and have
her autograph it. Then she told us we
had driven right by her place when we took that East End road to the end!! Didn’t seem that far out of town, but I’m assuming
in the winter, it would be quite the trek. Of course, after seeing this Igloo on the road, not sure how far out they are?
July 17th,
Thursday
He has painted for 50
years the landscapes of Alaska. 92 years
old and still painting, his wife, Libby, by his side. Wanted to see if we liked his paintings and
maybe see if we could get at least one.
Had a wonderful time talking with him and his wife. I loved his style of painting. The originals are out of our price range,
small ones go for over $20,000, but they are amazing. We did get 2 of the Giclee Prints, which are
reprinted and numbered on canvas like the originals, so when displayed, they look
like an original. We decided on a winter
scene with the Aurora Borealis behind and a spring/summer scene with the Alaska
state flowers, forget me nots in the foreground. Both have cabins in them, Lin and I loved
them both. Now to find a place to hang
them in the house!!
He and Libby came to
Alaska to paint the “wild North Country” as he calls it. But the land captured him and inspired all
these years. They came in 1958 and
homesteaded the area, painting and raising 5 children. I loved going thru the gallery, talking to
them and then walking thru their old homestead that is still standing and right
beside the now log home they live in. 
Back at the RV, I got a
few hours of sewing in, finished up a quilt top that was almost done, needed
only the borders to be finished and started another one that I brought with us,
already cut out. 18 blocks done before
dinner! Had a wonderful view out my window again tonight. 
The road to Anchorage is
long, crowded and windy (does that sound like a song?) with no animals in
sight. Good thing as with all the
traffic, we couldn’t have pulled off to take pics. So the elusive Moose is still out there. Decided to head back to the same military
base RV park at Fort Richardson to see if they are full. Got hooked up, then headed out for
pizza. Moose Pass has the best according
to Lin, the gluten free pizza is great.
Bought 2 so we have some for the freezer. 
July 19th,
Saturday
Back in Anchorage today,
woke up to the soft patter of rain on the roof.
Nothing sounds better than that, til you wake up and realize is
vacation!! So a day to spend in the RV, catching up with the blog, computer
work, bills (Yuck, they don’t go away cause you’re on vaca), and finally sewing
(Yeah!!) I do all the work first and
savor the sewing part. At least I can
turn the music on while sewing and enjoy the time. Lin is working on the RV
shocks, seems like the Canada and Alaskan roads take their toll on shocks.
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