Homer – We’re just a bit different and we like it that way

December 27^th, we’re done with all four Christmases. All of the presents are unwrapped, all of the boxes have been opened, all of the novelty has worn off, and I can now cry because there are 363 days until the next one. Ok, so Christmas isn’t about getting presents, it’s not even really about giving presents, it’s about celebrating the birth of Jesus! The giving part is fun though. It’s especially fun when a surprise actually comes to fruition! I, with the aid of my parents, gave Amanda a fancy cool camera, she didn’t see it coming. DSLR baby! The Nikon D80 to be precise. She’s been wanting a DSLR camera for a couple of years, particularly when she would miss cute shots because of the 3-second delay in our old digital camera. Now she can capture 10 pictures in that time frame. She’s not really sure if she wants one so that she can be an ace photographer extraordinaire and sell her pictures or if she wants one so that she can take 228 pictures in a day and a half of people and places (the bar has been set, will the next day feature more than 228 pictures? We’ll see!) She’s had fun with her camera in the short time she’s had it. While I’m here writing down my thoughts she’s reading the instruction manual.

All of the sudden I’m a fitness buff (note, this is markedly different from being buff). I received a plethora of fitness related items for Christmas. I received two copies of a scale that includes electrical impedance to calculate how much body fat (~19%), how much skeletal muscle (~40%), and how much visceral fat (~8%), along with BMI (26.6) and weight (183) I am carrying within this packaged called “Tom”, one copy of the scale will be returned. I received a grip trainer to aid in ice climbing endeavors (the photo on the package showed a guy hanging on the age of a cliff by just one hand, how long until I can do that? More importantly will Amanda ooh and aah about it or say “yuck”) I received a bosu balance trainer. I received a Wii Fit. I received a core stabilizer disc. Outside of fitness related items I received a miniature Frisbee (Amanda laughs at me when I say “miniature”, I pronounce all of the syllables instead of pronouncing it “minature”). Lastly, but not leastly, I received a pair of extra weight wool socks that almost go up to my knees, sure to keep me toasty at 30 below! Did you know that you’re supposed to turn the wool socks inside out when washing them? I didn’t until last night. Now that I’m pretty much set I can work on strengthening those numbers above (though I don’t have proof other than the weight, I reckon that I’ve brought the numbers into better ranges in the last 30 months). This leads me into Challenge 2009. I think I’ve figured it out! Too bad I’m not going to share the findings until New Years day.

So, we’re here in Homer, Alaska. Amanda’s birthplace and where Amanda’s mom lives. We undertook the 220 mile drive from Anchorage yesterday amidst blowing snow and “blizzard” conditions (per the highway sign). It really wasn’t that bad of a drive in most places. The key to driving in these conditions, in any conditions really, is to know your limits and your vehicle’s limits. The other key is to have a big giant truck! We hopped a ride from my dad down to the car rental agency, on the way we saw the after-effects of a rollover accident. In general the roads were slippery but not unmanageable. We stopped into the rental agency about 8 in the morning and had the choice of a dodge charger (rear wheel), dodge caravan (mom-mobile) at a $5 per day surcharge, or a Ford F-150 at a $7 per day surcharge. Really people? The F-150 probably cost less than the dodge charger when you purchased it! I suppose it’s the perceived prestige and the manufactured supply and demand of the vehicle that drives the rental price. We took the plunge, safety first (really, $35 for my safety?), and took the F-150. Now I can be king of road! Muahahaha!

The drive down was fairly anticlimactic, we didn’t need to tow anyone out of a ditch, we didn’t need 4WD low, we didn’t plow through any snowmen, we didn’t even see any Moose! We did stop and take lots of pictures, some turned out and others didn’t. Now that we have a big fancy camera we need to actually learn how to use it! Particularly in cases where we’re posing in front of mountains and the camera thinks the mountains should be in focus, not us.

Thankfully we have a few more days on this trek and can take lots and lots of pictures. Our memory card holds 530 shots, another 100 in internal memory, and we brought our laptop along to download the shots so we can have a fresh start every day! Let’s see how many we can get!

One of Amanda’s favorite restaurants here in Homer is “Happy Face”. It’s a little joint on the Homer spit that serves halibut fish and chips along with a few burgers and a few Chinese dishes. We tried to go last night but it was closed. Closed until January. Amanda had been looking forward to getting a “Happy Face” for months now but all she’ll be left with is a “Sad Face”. There are a few others restaurants here in Homer that we want to try out but none hold the allure of “Happy Face”. Perhaps we’ll find a decent second choice? We still have a couple of days. This is reminiscent of a trip we took to Homer a couple of years ago when Amanda was looking forward to eating a world famous sourdough pancake breakfast at the Beachcomber. We made it into town and lo and behold the Beachcomber was closed, no sourdough pancakes. We had to find solace in the “Happy Face”. Now there is no solace to be found. Sad Sad face.

We’re staying at Seaside Farms in Homer. Seaside Farms is run by Jewel’s aunt. Seaside Farms is where Amanda’s mom lives year round in a small (maybe 250 square feet) cabin. Our cabin is probably about 175 square feet with a loft and outhouse replete with a half door. One of the entries in the guest book quipped that this is the first time he’s taken a picture of the view from the outhouse. There is a book about “Outhouses of Alaska” that shows different outhouses in Alaska but I don’t know that it shows the views from the outhouses. The view here is of mountains hovering over a harbor, not too shabby. We haven’t seen the owners yet, haven’t "officially" checked in. That’s just the way things are around here. The door was unlocked key on the table. We’ll leave the check on the table if we don’t see anyone before we leave. People trust people here.

We ate at the Caribou Family Restaurant which interestingly doesn’t serve Caribou and isn’t run by a family of Caribou. We ate clam chowder and deep fried halibut. Things work a little different here in Alaska. The dinner we got came with all you can eat soup and salad served. The soup bar was two crock-pots filled with soup. Things are low-key here which is a nice reprieve to the high-key environments I’ve worked in. Minneapolis is somewhere in the middle, middle-key. Middle-key is a good balance.

We then headed over to Amanda’s mom’s abode to exchange Christmas presents. Standing room only was about the key. Amanda’s mom is a bit of a packrat, to say the least, and she doesn’t have a large area to be a packrat in. She lives fairly simply and likes it that way, Amanda would just like it a little bit more if she lived simply and uncluttered. Part of the purpose of staying four nights in Homer was to help Amanda’s mom clean up. She just needs a giant push to get over the psychological hurdles she’s set up for herself. We have a friend in Minneapolis who would have fun with this project, she’s a professional organizer. Deb, want to help?

That’s about it for exciting day #1 in Homer. Stay tuned for exciting day #2.