Homer, Alaska - Land's End

After staying the night on the beach near the mouth of the Kasilof River, my guy and I continued on toward Homer, Alaska. Homer - if you've never been - is a long spit of beach and land, surrounded by the ocean on both sides. It is artist colony meets hippies meets incredible food meets cruise ship tourist! What a combo!

We set up camp on Katchemak Bay - there were several campsites along the beach and we were lucky enough to grab the only available one on Labor Day weekend. Here was our campsite overlooking the Bay and the Katchemak Mountains. Off to the right there were also giant volcanoes visible but I didn't grab a picture of them...

Pheebles was chilly so we made her a nest! She's wearing my new Black Dog fleece!

A huge bald eagle (there were probably 20 or so eagles on the beach) -
carried away a dead salmon right next to our camp.

After getting back home on Tuesday late afternoon, I had just enough time to unpack, do laundry, re-pack, eat dinner, have a drink and then to bed for a couple hours, only to get up, and head to the airport at 11pm to catch my flight to see my family in Georgia. I got to Atlanta the following day at 3pm local time (7pm Alaska time). Got on the train and then finally to my Aunt and Uncle's house! Phew.

We got up early the next day and then drove through Alabama over to Mississippi to the Columbus Air Force Base to stay for a couple of days for the graduation ceremony of my beautiful and talented cousin, A! She received top honors in academics in her pilot training program. She's going to be flying C-17s out of Charleston, South Carolina. An amazing young woman, and I just could not be more proud of her.

Here are my Aunt and Uncle's dogs Rudy (left) and Lily (right). They came with us to the Air Force Base!

The weather in Mississippi was SOOOO hot and SOOOOO humid! The antithesis of Alaska weather! I bitched and complained my way through the entire trip. I do NOT like humidity. It makes me uber cranky.

However, the cloud formations and thunderheads everywhere were spectacular!

Next installment will be the Air Force Ball! What an incredible experience...Awesome five-piece band, great food, black tie event - all inside a GIANT hangar on the base. There were SEVEN planes inside the hangar, a huge dance floor, seating for 500 people, a stage for the speeches, two bars, AND? There was room to spare! It was incredible...

Here's a teaser picture:

Yes, I'm wearing a silk, vintage Emilio Pucci dress! I found that dress in a consignment store for a STEAL! It feels like a whisper and makes me feel super special. I LOVE that dress.

Ok. Off to do some baking! I feel oatmeal chocolate chip cookies coming on...

Ciao for now.