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• Homer is the perfect blend of what makes Alaska, Alaska.

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It's mountains and ocean, fishing and art. It's tough old sourdoughs and new-to-the-state cheechakos. It's Bush flights and sea kayaking.

It's not too refined, and that's just right.

And if you come for two or three days, you'll wish you stayed longer. At least that's what a survey conducted by the Homer Chamber of Commerce discovered a few years ago. The average visitor spent three days in Homer, and 90 percent wished they had more time.

Some probably wish they never had to leave.

Whether it's the lure of the ocean, the wilderness, the fish, whatever, Homer has it. And it attracts artists too.

"We are such a community of artists -- community band, orchestra, theater, galleries, the museum," said Hope Finkelstein, executive director of the Homer Council on the Arts. "It's tremendous the number of people who participate in art in one way or another.

"Homer has become known as 'art-rageous Homer.' People think of Homer as a fishing village, but it's so much more than that. Art is certainly one of our pride and joys. It's one of the reasons people come and visit here, and it's one of the reasons people stay here."

When visitors top Baycrest Hill on the Sterling Highway, the stunning beauty of Kachemak Bay opens up before their eyes. It's easy to see why artists set down roots.

Across Kachemak Bay from Homer are the small communities of Halibut Cove and Seldovia, and the 400,000-acre Kachemak Bay State Park.

The state park is just a short air-taxi or water-taxi ride from Homer. With islands, mountains more than 4,000 feet high, glaciers, fjords, beaches, rugged coastlines and 90 miles of hiking trails, the park is a perfect wilderness destination.

While many visitors will never cross the bay, they are missing out.

"Across the bay there are so many different areas to visit, different things to do," said Marilyn Sigman, executive director of the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. "You get to be in 'Alaska' without having to go hundreds of miles. You get off the road system, you get into the forests, into the tide pools, on the beach, on the trails. And it's still accessible and still safe.

"You can go over there for a half day to a whole day and get a flavor for the Alaska wilderness and the Alaska experience.

"It's easy to find a Top 10 attractions package tour and do what everybody else is doing. But with a little more effort, you can go on your own. Get solitude you don't get doing those attractions."

The Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies (www. akcoastalstudies.org, 235-6667) has a field station on Peterson Bay, which is reached via a boat ride.

The center offers guided hiking tours and tours that include both hiking and kayaking. The boat trip from Homer to Peterson Bay includes a stop at the Gull Island seabird rookery. Cost is $100 for adults and $68 for children younger than 12. The tour-kayaking combo is $150 per person.

Hikes can include trips to the rich intertidal areas of Peterson and China Poot bays and the coastal forest between the two bays. Kachemak Bay's broad tidal range and the rocky beaches make for excellent viewing and photographing of marine invertebrates.

The center also has yurts that allow guests to spend the night across the bay. Sometimes the best time to look for sea stars and the like is early in the morning on a low tide, so a night spent in the comfort of the yurt can open up new opportunities. The yurts are $25 per person or $80 for the whole yurt.

In Seldovia, the Otterbahn Trail leads to Outside Beach, with beautiful views across Kachemak Bay and out into Cook Inlet. The volcanoes across Cook Inlet are visible on clear days.

The easily hiked trail is rich with birds and berries. It is thickly wooded and fairly flat. There is a boardwalk across a wetland. It would be easy to spend an entire day enjoying the hike and scenery.

On the Homer side of the bay, the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies' Wynn Nature Center has guided hikes for $7, featuring forest and plant ecology. The hikes are at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily. There also is a Creatures of the Dock Tour for $5 on the Homer Spit. The one-hour tour looks at the under-the-sea life right in the harbor and is offered at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays in the middle of the summer. The Spit, a narrow piece of land that juts into Kachemak Bay, is the hub of summertime activity. There are shops, restaurants and lodging on the Spit. It is also where charters depart.

The Pratt Museum (www.pratt museum.org) offers above-the-waterline tours of the harbor at 3 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. A museum docent begins the tour near the Salty Dawg Saloon, one of Homer's oldest buildings and worth a trip on its own. The guides share stories about the Spit, commercial fishing and the history of some of the boats. The tours are $5.

The museum, 3779 Bartlett St., features exhibits co-developed with members of the community. The main exhibit, "Kachemak Bay: An Exploration of People and Place," features community-based videos, photo essays, computer interactive displays and remote video technology that takes visitors beyond the museum's walls.

Annually, the museum invites community artists to create special artwork to be displayed along the mile-long forest ecology trail. The "Facing the Elements" exhibit is exposed to weather and changes throughout the year. Also outdoors is a botanical garden, an interpretive trail system and the Harrington homestead cabin.

One of the first stops for many visitors to Homer is the Islands and Ocean Visitor Center, 95 Sterling Highway (www.islandsand ocean.com, 235-6961). The $18 million center gives visitors a glimpse into the world's largest seabird refuge, the remote Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, which includes 2,500 islands stretching from Southeast Alaska to Point Hope and Icy Cape in the Chukchi Sea. The 38,000-square-foot visitor center sits above Bishop's Beach with an outstanding view of Kachemak Bay. Information is also available about the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve. Admission is free.

The visitor center includes interactive programs, exhibit halls and hiking trails along Bishop's Beach and Beluga Slough. Guided walks and programs include the slough, tide pools and the beach.

Special sections editor Steve Edwards can be reached at sedwards@adn.com. Visit his Alaska travel blog at www.alaska.com/alaskology.

Editor's picks

• Walk the beach: Bishop's Beach is my favorite place in Homer, summer or winter. You can walk for what seems like forever, and when the tide is out there are cool things to look at.

• Bears in town: The Pratt Museum is one of the state's best, but one of its most popular features is the BearCam, a live feed from McNeil River State Brown Bear Sanctuary. Only a couple hundred people get to visit the sanctuary, so this is the next best thing.

• Cross the bay: While it might be hard to pull yourself away from Homer, the other side of Kachemak Bay is just as interesting, maybe more so if you want solitude. The small towns of Seldovia and Halibut Cove are fascinating, and Kachemak Bay State Park has tons of trails.

• It is the capital: Go halibut fishing. They have this little saying that Homer is the Halibut Capital of the World. They know what they're doing.

Explosive past

Volcanoes are part of Alaska's history, and today they still dominate portions of the state's horizon. The Aleutian arc contains 80 volcanoes, more than 40 of which are active. On a drive from Anchorage to Homer visitors might see several volcanoes. Remember "AIR" -- Augustine, Iliamna and Redoubt from south to north -- to recall the volcanoes in the proper order.

• AUGUSTINE VOLCANO: It is an island volcano in lower Cook Inlet and rises 4,025 feet. It most recently erupted in January 2006, belching ash clouds more than eight miles into the air.

• ILIAMNA VOLCANO: It is a stratovolcano and part of the Aleutian Range in Lake Clark National Park. Iliamna rises 10,016 feet. At least 10 glaciers come from the summit area.

• REDOUBT VOLCANO: It is also a stratovolcano and is almost Iliamna's twin, rising 10,197 feet. It most recently erupted in 1989-90. It can be seen from Anchorage on clear days.

• MOUNT DOUGLAS: It is visible only on the most clear days southwest of Homer. It rises about 7,000 feet.

Shorebird festival

The annual Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival is May 8-11 in Homer.

• The festival features more than 50 events including advanced ornithology workshops, entertainment, field trips and boat tours.

• Several thousand shorebirds use sites around Kachemak Bay as feeding grounds during their spring migration.

• For more information, contact 235-7740, www.homeralaska.org/shorebird.htm or www.birdinghomeralaska.org.

What locals say

"I'm a tide-pool nut. Every time I go out I see something different. I'm also a hiker. I like to get way off the beaten path."

-- Marilyn Sigman, executive director of the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies