Where did Summer go

The Summer is half over and we've still got a lot of things we want to do and see before we leave Alaska. Last week was slow here at Spruce Moose with both chalets empty so we decided to drive to Homer which was on our "Bucket List". Homer is as far South as you can drive on the Sterling Highway. In fact, Homer is a far South as you can drive on any highway on the Kenai Peninsula. It's a quaint little place with a population of about 3000 residents but in the Summer that swells to many more thousands who come here for some of the best Halibut fishing anywhere in the world. They also have many other site seeing opportunities including cruises, air plane tours and ferry rides to the islands South of Homer in the Aleutian Island chain of Alaska. A ferry ride or an airplane is the only way to get to the islands South of Homer. We were hoping to be able to see Mt Redoubt, the volcano that's been erupting lately, along with some other volcanoes across Cook Inlet but it was much too hazy to see much. We did drive out on the "Spit" which is a narrow strip of land protruding out into the ocean from Homer where there are lots of businesses that cater to the tourist industry. It was an interesting place but the wind was blowing and it wasn't very warm. It's a good thing we've learned when you go somewhere in Alaska be prepared for weather changes and brought jackets and hats. They say you can use one word to describe the weather here and that's "Unpredictable" and that's for sure.
Most of the shops here are very small and a lot such as the fishing charter businesses are just basically an office where they take reservations. The actual fishing boats depart out of the "Small Boat Harbor" which in itself is an interesting place. If you look close at the docks, you'll see that the poles that support the docks actually go through holes in the docks which float and are allowed to rise and fall with the tide. Judging from the deposits on the dock poles, they must have a 10 - 15 foot tide here in Homer.
Homer is also the home to a large commercial fishing industry and there is a monument on the Spit dedicated to people who have lost their lives at sea from the port of Homer. It's very interesting to read all the names on plaques they have all around the inside of the monument. Most of them appear to have been in the fishing industry but some were obviously private citizens and some appear to be whole families probably lost at sea in some type of boating mishap. I would assume this is not uncommon anywhere where boating in the ocean is a big part of the lives of the people living there.
The weather here the last couple weeks has been great. I don't care when they say Summer starts, in Alaska Summer starts in July. We've had sunny, warm days and moderate nights for the last two weeks. You can see from the pictures the difference from when we arrived in mid May till today. In May the vegetation was brown and nothing but sticks. The mountains were still covered with snow and Upper Trail Lake across the road still had ice on it. Today everything is a lush green and the trees and flowers are in full bloom. Some of the mountains still have snow on them but most is gone. The lake is free of ice and the float planes take off and land every day. The contrast is like night and day (something has to be since they don't really have night here). I can see why the residents of Alaska love this place. I just wish we hadn't waited so long to come and enjoy the beauty of this place. Every day you see something new and different from the daily changing look of the surrounding mountains to the vegetation and growth around you. This is truly "The last Frontier".