Last weekend we made a day road trip to the Alaskan town of Homer. It’s a longer drive (4-5 hours), so we left early and the weather (and traffic) were great!
As we approached the Cooper Landing and Sterling areas, we hit construction (22 miles of it!) and some smoke from
the Swan Lake fire. At that point, it had been burning for awhile and was not in the news any longer. However, the winds were really high and conditions were definitely dry (I can’t remember the last time we had rain - maybe mid-July?)!
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| Approaching the smoke |
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| Looking back at the fire, and forwards towards the blue skies! |
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| Untouched on the left, scorched on the right |
We got into Homer around 1ish, and stopped at the Lighthouse Grill for a great bbq lunch. Then we drove down to the Homer Spit and walked around the shops, beach, and docks. After some time in the sun, we drove back to the beginning of town to take some photos of Homer and the Spit.
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| The beach on the Spit |
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| Overlooking the town and the Spit |
On the way back north, we were able to stop at a few scenic viewpoints and take some great photos.
We stopped in Soldotna for a late dinner and then headed home. As we drove of Soldotna though, we saw that the fire had gotten worse and could see the smoke from the outskirts of town!
As we drove through Sterling and Cooper Landing (at slow, construction speeds), we wee in awe at how fast those winds had worked and grew the fire. At the same time, we started getting news reports of a new wildfire north, in the Talkeetna area shutting down the Parks Highway! Thankfully, our car’s air filter is great, but by the time we got through the tail end of it, our throats sure hurt!
Pulling back on to the Turnagain Arm, and headed home, the air cleared for a pretty sunset. We are so thankful we made it home as the Sterling Highway was shut down that day and many people were stuck in various areas around the state due to wildfires.
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