Day 17: May 16th

Today was a surprisingly early morning.  Construction was being completed on the house and roofers were working on re-shingling the building in the morning, much to our dismay.  However, the noise forced us to be up and packing, working on our last preparations before leaving. 

We met Gary, our bus driver, around 10 AM in the Hope parking lot after dropping off the Hope vans we had been using for transportation during the previous two weeks.  What an awesome guy! Susan had known Gary from previous trips to Alaska and specifically requested him to drive our group to Seward and Homer. 

About halfway through our journey, we stopped for dinner at the home of Wartburg alumna Marilyn Gravenhorst and her husband Ron.  Before eating, Marilyn took the group on hike to Russian Falls.  After approximately a two mile hike, we were able to stand on overlooks to view the falls or hike down to the bank of the river.  A few daring students felt the water and were met with a rush of ice cold glacial water.  

After saying goodbye to the Gravenhorsts and thanking them for the wonderful food and generous hospitality, we headed off to complete the second leg of our trip to Homer.  For a majority of the way, the road followed a river that was icy teal in color.  Gary said that the chemical composition of the segment picked up by the glacial water and the rivers depth give it the translucent, light blue-green color.  

We reached Homer in the evening to stay in the beautiful Ocean House Inn. The first thing we noticed was the wonderful ambiance of the Inn.  The rooms had a homey, log cabin feel to them while not actually being made of logs.  All of our rooms overlooked the ocean and the mountain range across the bay.  Much to our excitement, the rooms also had had insanely large beds decked out with 12 pillows per bed! Everyone was also anxious to try out the hot tub located just outside our rooms.  People can enjoy a hot soak after a long day while watching the mountains turn pink with the setting sun. 

(C) 2014. All photos below are the property of Benjamin Bogard. All rights reserved.