GW 2025 Tuesday, Oct 14. Homer, Alaska

Tuesday (or should I say Mooseday!?), October 14, 2025

Good morning!!  We slept in a little bit today, getting up around 7ish rather than 6ish and followed our regular morning routine of coffee, chatting, journaling, and, for me, at least, playing word games. I play several on-line word games pretty much every day to try and keep my brain healthy and working.  Waffle, Wordle, Connections, Strands and Quartiles.  Then I also play the mini crossword through the Apple News app (that’s where Quartiles is, too), along with Sudoku and their Emoji game (which is really hard!). THEN, later I play Jeopardy, Question of the Day and Puzzle of the Day through Alexa.  I got Kathi to join me today.  I even got her to play Song Quiz with me even though she tells me that she really hates this one!!

The weather today is beautiful.  When looking at the weather app prior to our flights, it looked like it was going to rain every day of our trip.  Turns out however, that the only time it has rained is during the night or early in the morning before we are ready to go out.  We always feel like God smiles on us for our trips and blesses us with good weather.  This trip has proved to be no exception. We showered and dressed, grabbed a few snack items and hopped into the car for today’s outing.  Our destination for the day is the Pratt Museum, which is a natural history museum here in Homer that also has a few trails surrounding it.  On our way down the hill, we came around a corner and there was a big bull moose in the middle of the road!!  I have been hoping to see moose since we arrived and here one was!! He turned off the road and went up someone’s driveway.  Kathi followed him so we could try and get photos but he was way faster than us and disappeared into the brush.  I got a couple of pics, but nothing very clear. But we were very excited!!  Out of the blue, Kathi made a prediction that we would see three moose today, and, by golly, she was RIGHT!!  More on that later.

We stopped off at the post office first so that I could mail off some postcards that I wanted to send to my grandkids, then we went back to Ulmer’s so that I could try and find a gift for Beckett.  I had already found something for Margo (a cute little skirt) and for Theo (a pair of rainbows with sports balls all over them), but still needed something for Beckett. Ulmer’s was a bust but as we drove by a bookstore on our way to the Pratt Museum, I asked Kathi to pull in because I thought I could find an Alaskan themed book for Beckett now that he is reading.  Success!  I found a children’s illustrated book about the Iditarod.  Perfect!  This bookstore had an entire section devoted to banned books.  This section included "The Color Purple" and "To Kill A Mockingbird" which were required reading when I was in high school! 

Banned Book Section

We stopped at the Zen Den Cafe for some coffee and sat in there for a bit for drink it and so that I could eat the chocolate croissant that I ordered, then  on to the Pratt Museum.

Skeleton of a Bering Sea Beaked Whale

Upon entering the Pratt Museum, the first thing one notices is a fairly large skeleton hanging from the ceiling.  After paying our admission fee (we get the discounted senior rate these days!), I asked what the skeleton belonged to.  The woman at the desk told us that it is the skeleton of a beaked whale that had washed up on shore.  Apparently beaked whales are rarely seen because they live deep in the ocean and exhibit reclusive behavior.  I found it interesting that the bones in the fins actually look like the bones of a human hand. The museum has the skeletons of many sea creatures along with taxidermied mounts of mammals and birds native to this area.  There is a very interesting exhibit about the Exxon Valdez oil spill (11 million gallons of crude oil was spilled) that occurred in 1989 that had devastating effects on marine wildlife and affected over 1300 miles of shoreline. There is also an exhibit about coast guard rescues and how long a person can last in the frigid waters in this area if one should be unlucky enough to be on a sinking boat.  They have survival suits available that you can put on to experience what it might be like to get into one before your boat sinks. You are encouraged to try and get into it in no more than 30 seconds.  Kathi got into the suit but was not able to get it zipped up.  To be fair, the zipper pull appeared to be gone, but I’m not sure how one would have the dexterity to pull it up because the hand portions of the suit resemble claws rather than fingers!

We browsed the gift shop, then grabbed a map of the surrounding trails before we left then went in search of a trailhead.  I believe we missed the actual trailhead but we did manage to bushwhack out way to the trail.  There was a sign we saw as well as a note on the map that bear and moose have been seen in this area so cautioned that one be aware of their surroundings.  Sure enough, we had been walking for about 20 minutes or so and I spotted a moose through the trees!!  I called out to Kathi and pointed it out. 

We watched her (no rack on this one) for quite a while.  I’m sure she was aware of use because she appeared to look our way a number of times, but I remember reading somewhere that their eyesight is really quite poor, so I’m guessing she heard us rather than really saw us. She didn’t appeared to be too bothered by us, because she didn’t run off and eventually she laid down.  We couldn’t do the entire trail because it looked to me like she laid down right on the trail!

After walking a bit more on a different trail we returned to the car and decided to make our way to The Homestead restaurant, which had been suggested to us by the clerk in Nomar’s, for dinner.  She told us that they have excellent food and, in particular, have oysters, which Kathi has been wanting since we got here.  Their menu is mainly New Orleans style food and it was delicious.  Kathi got her oysters and she and I split a 1/2 pound cheeseburger with some scrumptious and perfectly cooked potato wedges.  Kathi also got a pomegranate cocktail, which she said was quite tasty.  We also had a very friendly and accommodating server.  This has been the only meal that we have eaten out since we have been here and it was well worth it.

We hopped into the car and started the drive home.  We hadn’t been on the road for long when I looked to my right and saw a moose at the foot of a driveway. I wasn’t sure if it was a REAL moose or if it was a statue or carving of some sort.  I told Kathi what I saw and she said, “should I turn around?” and I said yes. So she pulled into a driveway to turn around and as we were traveling back the way we came, sure enough, the moose ran across the road in front of us!  This is moose #3! Unfortunately he ran down the road away from us and my camera was in the back seat, so I was only able to get some video of it’s rear end as it ran from us with my phone before it veered off of the road and into some brush.  A three moose day!!

Once back in our cottage, we settled in for our evening routine of journaling, photo editing and sharing.  We also watched one more episode of “The Morning Show”, then called it a night.

“Travel isn’t about checking places off a list-it’s about collecting stories worth telling” 

GW 2025; Monday, October 13, Homer Alaska

Monday, October 13, 2025

 

We really hate how fast this trip flies by. It’s already Monday and it feels like we just got here! Today we extended our normal morning routine a bit. It’s so awesome to just relax and take the day slowly. Lori and her husband took a Viking river cruise last year right before GW, and Lori started a mini journal scrapbook/journal of the trip with photos. She brought the journal to North Dakota with us last year, and I loved it and wanted to do one too. Lori gave me a journal and a little printer for Christmas and my birthday, and I have been pretty good at chronicling my travels for both work and play. This morning, I started working on that journal as well as this one. Once again, the rain hasn’t come, and in fact, the sun came out this morning for quite a while. Delightful.

 

Last night we heard hooting from a Great Horned Owl, which was super cool. He hooted off and on again throughout the night, but we didn’t see him. To be clear, without Lori, I would have just called this guy “an owl,” but bird-nerd girl can tell the hoot of one from another! I like birds, but have to hear their sounds about 500 times before I can independently recognize one.

 

After taking some time to plan our day, we left the house around 12:50. It’s art gallery day! Our first stop was the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies . . . which was disappointing. We thought it was going to be more of a gallery, but really it is the parent group for the Wynn Nature Center (where we had hiked yesterday) and Inspiration Ridge, which was the preserve founded by the woman we’d met while walking the Beluga Slough Trail on our first full day here. It’s pretty much a headquarters and office space. There was just one guy in there who was working on something, and there was no art to view. They did have some Alaska-themed Tshirts and sweatshirts, but mostly in youth sizes. Apparently, the majority of their swag stock was at the Wynn Nature Center, which was closed for the season, and they hadn’t bothered to restock this location before closing  down the Wynn (Lori and I are in full agreement that this was dumb, and not forward-thinking).

 

Undaunted, we moved on to our second stop, which was unplanned. Across the parking lot from the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies was what we thought was a strip mall. Turns out it was really one HUGE store called Ulmer’s. Yikes – this place was big. Not big in a larger city Walmart or Meijer way, but big in a this-is-a-tiny-town-and-we-never-expected-it-to-have-anything-this-large kind of way. Plus, it was dense and seemed to have everything! I saw shovels, luggage, toys, pillows, novelties, games, picture frames, arts and crafts, fabric, yarn, knitting and crochet needles, any sewing accessory you ever wanted, children's clothing, bedding, kitchen items, shelving, storage bins, household items, vacuum cleaners, books, Mettler thread (whatever that is), backpacks, office and school supplies (with a better selection of items than at Meijer), Hallowe’en decorations, Christmas decorations and lighting, and that's only 1/3 of the store. I turned a corner and another third of the store is basically a baby Dick's Sporting Goods and a full hardware store. You could roam for HOURS in this place. What they did NOT have, however, was Alaska-themed clothing, although we found some great stickers.

 

By the time we staggered out of Ulmer’s, we needed fortification. Zen Den, the coffee shop we had found a few days ago, was not far away, and we stopped for some coffee. The parking lot was packed, so we decided to go through the drive-thru. This was a really small-town vibe drive-thru, without an impersonal microphone and speaker ordering experience. Instead, you pull right up the window, and a friendly person leans out and chats with you about what you want to order. Lori decided on a Pavlov Fire Mocha, which was similar to the mocha with cayenne she’d had at Wild Honey Bistro the day before. I asked for a remake of the Bees Knees from Wild Honey and described the ingredients, and they did a good job mimicking it! We have decided that overall, we are thrilled with the coffee shop options here in Homer. Not only is the coffee good, but the customer service is fabulous.

 

Our next destination was the Homer Council on the Arts, which, according to its website, offered performances, original exhibitions, and arts education for all ages and abilities, along with art exhibits. This was a very small space that featured a delightful jewelry exhibit by Carly Conemac, another local artist. Lori and both very much liked several of her pieces. She focused on using silver and silver clay. Silver clay (we had never heard of it) is a type of art clay made of tiny silver particles mixed with a binder to form a soft, clay-like material. It can be easily shaped by hand or with simple tools, allowing artists to create detailed designs that would be difficult or time-consuming using traditional metalworking methods. Apparently, there are other types of metal clay, such as gold or copper. This artist clearly loved shells and quite a few of her designs involved them, but she also combed the beaches for natural stones and incorporated those into her work.

The lady that worked in this gallery, and another lady who was a local and was visiting the gallery, swore that Ulmer definitely had some Alaska focused Tshirts by a native artist named Ray Troll, so we knew we’d be heading back there at some point.

 

Our next destination was the Alaskan Art Shop Gallery, which, according to our brochure and its website, was supposed to be open, but wasn’t. There was a sign on the door stating that they're closed all week. When researching what we would do while here in Homer, Lori had read that squid and/or octopus ink was a traditional medium used by artists in this area, and she was hoping to find and purchase a piece, but so far, we haven’t had any luck finding anything. Unfortunately, this gallery is one of the few places that are supposed to have Alaskan gifts and more. Ah well – on to the next stop.

 

Ptarmigan Arts and Fireweed Gallery are in buildings right next to each other and are both co-ops for local artists. They are gallery-cum-shops; everything on display is also for immediate sale. Ptarmigan was full of all kinds of delightful handmade items, including paintings, weavings, jewelry, pottery, textiles, and more. We stayed in there quite a while, looking at everything and purchasing a couple of Christmas gifts. Fireweed had more classical offerings that were not as much to our taste (Lori and I have very similar tastes about a lot of things – you probably already knew that), but I found some wonderfully unique feminist-focused greeting cards there that are awesome.

 

After leaving Fireweed, we ventured back to Ulmer's to see if we just had not seen the Alaska-focused items, but no, we hadn’t missed them. All Ray Troll items had been considered out of season, taken off the floor, and packed away. They had some boring, run-of-the-mill shirts that we declined. However, the two women there who were helping us suggested we try a place called Nomar, because they had the same Ray Troll t-shirt and sweatshirt collection there! This was starting to feel quite a bit like a scavenger hunt, and we were the losing team! We were up for the game, though, so off we went to find Nomar.

 

Nomar did have some Ray Troll shirts, but there were just leftover sizes of super small and super big, plus we didn’t really like the designs anyway. He’s quite an eclectic artist, and probably an acquired taste. However, we were VERY happy we had been directed to find this AMAZING place! The store was founded almost 50 years ago when Homer had only 2,000 residents (there are only about 6,500 now, so it’s still tiny!) by a couple (primarily the wife) who loved fishing, and didn’t have the equipment needed to do so safely in Alaska. So Nomar is basically a textiles company created to address the needs of EVERYTHNG having to do with fishing in Alaska, from protective clothing and other items to guard against the frozen temperatures, to sturdy bags to hold fishing gear and the gear itself, to custom-made upholstery to cover seats and the boats themselves. After they were established, it became clear that ordinary people might want to buy the items they made or use their upholstery services themselves. So, the store was filled with all kinds of fascinating stuff. If I hadn’t restricted myself to a carry-on, I would probably have bought one of the unique boat bags and found some kind of use for it, although those who know me know that another bag is the very last thing I need. The woman working there was so helpful, and did not tire of responding to all our questions (sometimes we can really exhaust people with our curiosity!) Before we left, she gave us a strong recommendation to have dinner at the Homestead Restaurant before leaving town.

 

We headed home, having had a delightful day exploring all Homer had to offer. We enjoyed yummy leftovers and watched more episodes of The Morning Show before going to bed.

"Travel is the art of collecting memories"

GW 2025 Sunday 10/12/25. Homer, Alaska

Sunday, October 12

The forecast for today was rain in the morning, then a window of time in the afternoon with no rain, so we decided to take the morning to laze around and do what we both enjoy doing, which is journaling, playing word games and just chatting.  Oh, and also eating breakfast!! I had  made a breakfast casserole yesterday morning that Tom and I often enjoy at home.  Sausage, eggs, shredded potatoes, red bell pepper and cheese.  It is quite delicious, so I enjoyed some of that for breakfast while Kathi enjoyed some yogurt.

After I had played my word games and while Kathi was still working on the Saturday journal, I started looking for hiking trails that looked promising.  I found the Wynn Nature Center which is a part of the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies.  They have a visitor center in an old homesteader cabin and several trails and it’s not far away!  Looked perfect!  The website stated “Join us on Sundays at 1:00 pm for our Wynnter Sundays event series, where we provide free activities for families to explore winter ecology.” It was 11:30 when I came across this and Kathi & I decided that we wanted to make this today’s activity.  We both showered quickly and were ready to leave by noon.  This place sits high up on a ridge, even higher than our little home away from home, and there were spectacular views of Kachemak Bay and the Homer Spit on the drive up.  There were two parking areas so we weren’t sure which one was where people met for the Sunday event.  We checked one out and it didn’t appear at a quick glance to have any kind of building where people would gather, so we went to the other parking lot.  We appeared to be the only people in either lot, but it was still early so we decided to wait until 1 and see if anyone else appeared.  However, there was a sign on the door of the Visitor Center that said something along the lines of “thanks for a great season, see you next year”,  which led us to believe that it was quite possible that no one was coming.  This turned out to be true, so we decided to explore some of the 5 miles of hiking trails on our own.  The website mentions moose being quite common in this area so we were really hoping to see at least one while here.

We made our way out on the trailhead by the Daisy Lee Bitter Outdoor Learning Space.  The trail starts out on boardwalks, before a few steps down onto a dirt trail.  We were quickly in a mostly forested area, with some boggy, marshy areas, too.  No wonder the moose like it here! We took one turn onto the Bog Trail where there were more wooden and plastic boardwalks over the soggy areas. Now when you step onto the boardwalks you expect them to stay in place and keep your feet dry and for the most part that proved to be true. HOWEVER, I stepped onto one that SANK down into the muddy water, so I moved on quickly only to find that the next section of the boardwalk did the same thing!!  The last section was stable and I stepped off of it onto a dirt trail that went out to an elevated overlook of the bog. Kathi was behind me and when she saw me sink into the water, she stopped.  Today, she just wore tennis shoes and not her duck boots and she didn’t want to get her feet wet.  Fortunately my hiking boots are water resistant so my feet did not get wet.  I told her I would check out the overlook and let her know if it was worth getting her feet wet for.  I was hoping for moose, but disappointingly, there were none, so I told Kathi it wasn’t worth her wading through the water.  She took a video of me returning on the sinking boardwalk pieces much to her delight!!  It was one thing to step on those not knowing that they would sink and quite another to KNOW that I was going to splash into the water! We continued on the trail which went through some dense forest (mostly fir trees) and thoroughly enjoyed our 2 hour hike.

I had noticed an overlook sign on our way up to the Nature Center, so we made the turn off on the way downhill and were very happy that we did.  The view of the Bay and the spit was awesome!!

From there we went to Safeway to reload a few items (yogurt, English muffins and water). We saw several cute little black bunnies hopping around in the grass on our way to the store.  We also noticed that there are LOTS of boats here!  Just about every driveway has at least one boat, if not more!

Once back to the cottage and the groceries unloaded and put away, I actually took a nap (I love naps) while Kathi listened to some music and may have napped a little bit herself.

When I got up, I made dinner (chicken and zucchini in a buttery lemon sauce). After we ate we Zoomed Tom to do the final tossing of the states.  He has been such a good sport about this and we have decided that we really like the gigantic box that he uses to shake up the states before the toss.  He has dubbed it the “Box of Destiny”.   On the first toss, the two remaining state pieces landed face down, so he had to do a second toss.  The winner for next year’s trip is:  New York!! After chatting with Tom a bit about the day we signed off to watch Season 4 of “The Morning Show”  We had started watching this show together a few Girls Weekends ago and both really enjoyed it and saved this season for watching while here. We watched 2 episodes and decided it was time to call it a night.  I proofread Kathi’s journal entry for Saturday, then added photos and published on the blog. Then off to bed.  

Good night!

GW 2025 Homer, Alaska. Saturday October 11

Saturday, October 11, 2025

Lori and I each got a great night’s sleep of almost 9 hours, and we both felt settled into the new time zone. Lori made a delicious casserole for breakfast, which we’ll be able to enjoy for the rest of the trip. We spent a couple of hours chatting and journaling, then at 9:00 we left to drive to the Spit and find our water taxi.

The Blue Too was a landing craft water taxi with a wide front ramp that allows them to pull directly onto a beach for easy and safe loading and unloading of both people and gear. Lori and I dressed warmly, but when the breeze became a bit too chilly out on the deck, we could go into the cabin area and hang out a bit with our Ferryman, Deb. The cabin was slightly heated and had a zip closure to keep the warmth in. Deb didn’t seem too talkative at first, but no one ignores Lori and me when we start showing an interest in what they are doing and how they are doing it, and she soon warmed up. Deb had worked for Mako’s for six years, and was a transplant from Maine. Like Lori, she also missed seeing fall colors: Alaska is full of pine and other evergreen trees, and whatever deciduous trees that are here seem to only turn yellow in the fall. So the landscape is all greens and yellows, with none of the reds, oranges, and purples that we see in the Midwest and East.

Joining us for the first couple legs of our journey was a group composed of two young couples, their two dogs, and tons of gear. They were going to hike the Grace Ridge Trail, a nine-mile trek across the top of an island ridge in Kachemak State Park. Deb’s first assignment today was to stop at Kayak Beach, where the quartet would be spending the night, so they could offload all their gear. Then they reboarded and we set off to deliver them to the trailhead at South Grace Ridge. On the way there, we cruised alongside the land mass they would be crossing. The majority of the ridge was under quite a bit of cloud cover, so they were in for some visibility challenges, but these four were clearly experienced hikers and were undaunted by the idea of trekking for about six hours up in the clouds before coming back down again to sleep in a bare-bones yurt. The mere thought of their day makes my back hurt.     

As soon as we took off from the dock, we saw sea otters, and continued to spot them every so often throughout the ride. They are so cute and playful. Lori asked Deb if they are good at getting out of the way, and she said pretty much but they sometimes aren’t successful. Oh boy… After dropping of the intrepid hikers, we moved back out into the bay and proceeded to another pickup area on another small beach, where we were joined by another group of four who came walking out of the rocks. These were an Austrian woman and her daughter, and a Latina mother and daughter, who were all friends. They had spent the night in a yurt after a day of hiking and needed transport back to Homer. Lori and I enjoyed some great conversations with all of the passengers we’d met and decided this had been a great morning and a positive alternative to our formal tour that had been suddenly canceled.

We arrived back where we started at about noon and decided we’d explore a bit more of what Homer had to offer. We had passed an interesting-looking store called Homer Jeans a few times and decided to go check it out. It was a great store with clothing for women and men, and they had WAY more than jeans. It was rather high-end, but was stocked with unique and interesting items. We explored for a while, then Lori bought some cute new sunglasses (which she had been needing for the past two days). We left and drove back to the Bishop’s Beach area we had explored yesterday. A bakery called Two Sisters we had visited the day before, sold these cute stickers. Lori bought one yesterday and later pointed out that the logo of two women dancing could be us, which made me want a sticker too. So we returned to get more stickers from Two Sisters, then drove to the Bunnell Street Arts Center, an art gallery in the Homer Historic Old Town with a great mission to provide instruction, exposure, support, and residencies for local artists. We enjoyed walking around the gallery and talking to the curator, whose excitement about the native history of the area was palpable and contagious.

Next door to the gallery was a coffee shop called Wild Honey Bistro that served breakfast items, dessert crepes, mimosas, and delicious coffee drinks. Lori ordered a mocha with a bit of cayenne in it (WHY???) and I had a Bee’s Knees, which was a latte with honey and cinnamon. So yummy! We were grateful to have squeezed in there at 2:00 just as they were closing; we’ll definitely go back.

We thought the Historic Old Town would have a little bit more substance than it did, but I guess it’s mostly the history of the buildings and land that make it noteworthy. It’s clear that visiting this area after the season has ended makes for a much calmer, quieter experience than many of the descriptions in our research. Unfortunately, this also means that many places are closed until spring. We decided we’d had enough adventure for one day and headed back to the cottage. There are many more art galleries in Homer that we plan to explore another day, but for now, it was time to go home.

By 4:15, we were once again settled in on the couch to put photos in folders and do some journaling. At about 6:45 Tom texted that he was home, and once again we Zoomed with him for the tossing of the states. He’s becoming a states-tossing expert! Two landed face up – New York and Arizona! Lori and I immediately started talking about ideas for either one.

I started dinner just before 7:00, but we didn’t eat until 9 because we had bought a GIGANTIC ruby red sweet potato that took about 90 minutes to bake, but it was delicious! We also had some huge chicken breasts and some fresh asparagus. While we ate, we finished watching Unknown Number, a documentary about how a catfishing scandal changed the lives of several families in a community. The only commentary I will give is that Lori is traumatized for life. After the documentary was over, we worked a bit more on photo editing and journaling before going to bed at about midnight.

GIRLS WEEKEND 2025. HOMER, ALASKA

 

A viewpoint between Anchorage & Homer

Friday, October 10, 2025

After a decent night's sleep, I was up and about at around 5:30 am and Kathi was not too far behind me. Our Air BNB home away from home is lovely and we have a SPECTACULAR view of the Homer Spit (a "spit" is a geological formation consisting of a narrow, elongated stretch of sand or gravel that extends from the coast into a body of water) from our balcony, none of which we could see upon our arrival last night because it was pitch dark.  Some perks of this place: a heated bathroom floor, a heated toilet seat and a heated towel rack, along with the view.  It actually was still dark when we got up.  Sunrise was around 8:30 am and as the sun came up it slowly unveiled the view for us.

Sunrise from our Air BNB deck

    According to the weather app, today is the only day        that is supposed to be rain free. So I decided that we        would go to Bishop's Beach for some tidepooling.        Low tide was around 11am so we had a "slow"                morning of coffee and yogurt, while Kathi started            typing up the journal for day 1. Eventually we both        showered and dressed and got ready for our day's            outing. Kathi made sandwiches and packed lunches        while I was in the shower.  After she showered and        dressed we headed out the door to experience some of     Alaska!

    We parked in the parking lot of Bishop's Beach and made our way down to the water.  It didn't take us long to spot a bald eagle up in a tree. 

I have every expectation of seeing many bald eagles while here, which is fine with me because they are such beautiful and regal birds.  That being said, a bit later we spotted one walking on the beach and I was somewhat surprised by how much less regal they appear when walking rather than flying or just sitting perched.  

We walked around on the beach and I looked hard for tidepools, but disappointingly, found none. While I was looking for tidepools, Kathi took off in the opposite direction and was walking down towards the water.  She has fancy duck boot like shoes that are waterproof up to a point, so she could walk through shallow water and still have dry feet. I walked that way thinking I would join her when I realized that I would have to wade through

some water that was higher than I thought my hiking boots would be able to withstand so I just walked around the beach a bit more.  Soon I realized that the tide was now coming IN and it appeared that Kathi was quickly becoming surrounded by water that was gradually getting higher and was out on an island of sand.  She realized this too when she headed back towards me and stepped into a deep area of water and ended up with wet feet.  She shouted, "It seems like the tide is coming in!" and I said "it IS!"

Kathi on her island of sand

Once she made it safely back to where I was, we realized that we were both hungry, so we went back to the car and sat and ate our lunch, while she attempted to dry out her shoes and socks with the heater.  In the meantime we had a nice FaceTime conversation with my daughter who helped Kathi get her phone hooked up to Apple Car Play.  This Benz, while very cool, has had a steep learning curve in discovering all of its little nuances!!

After our little lunch break, we walked the Beluga Slough trail which took off from the parking lot. We ran into an elderly woman a few times while walking and she asked us where we from and we told her our story.  Then she proceeded to tell us her story, which was very interesting. She told us that her husband had passed away a few years ago, but before his passing they purchased 683 acres of land (a little bit at a time) on a ridge above the Bay to create a wildlife preserve.  He died before seeing the project all the way through, but eventually the land was donated to the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies to preserve a habitat for local wildlife.  The name of the preserve is Inspiration Ridge Preserve (https://akcoastalstudies.org/inspirationridge) It was Nina we were speaking to and she still serves as the property manager for the preserve as well as lives on the property.  She showed us pictures of the some of the views from the property as well as photos of the sandhill cranes that come through the preserve every year.  She is obviously very proud of her accomplishments, as she should be.  Unfortunately it is not currently open to the public for tours (only in the summer), so we realized that we would not have the opportunity to visit. 

After our hike we decided to drive out on the spit since it still wasn't raining. I also wanted to check on the status of the boat tour of the bay that I had booked a few months ago.  We were disappointed to find out that nearly ALL of the shops on the spit are closed for the season and the office for the tour company I had booked our boat tour through also appeared closed, so I called them.  "Oh!"  says the woman who answered the phone when I told her I was calling to confirm that the tour would happen rain or shine, "I must have overlooked your name, I thought I had contacted every one.  The tour has been cancelled because all of our boats are out of service." Another disappointment.  So glad I called, though!  After being assured that I would get a refund, and being told that another company MIGHT be running tours, we walked down to the Salty Dawg, which is a very famous saloon in Homer.  Many people who visit the place, write a note on a dollar bill and then thumbtack it to the wall.  There must be thousands of dollars in (mostly) $1 bills tacked up on every wall space in the place.  We went in just to look around but asked the bartender and the patrons about bay tours.  They offered us some suggestions and the bartender even wrote them down for us.  People are very friendly here!  We left and upon returning to the car we called Mako's taxi service and were able to book a "ride along" on one of their boats for 10 am tomorrow morning.  It wouldn't be a tour.  We would just be along for the ride, while they dropped a party of 4 hikers (plus 2 dogs) off at one place and picked up a party of 4 hikers (plus one dog) before returning to the harbor.  This sounded fine to us and we booked it!

We went back to our place and decided we didn't really need to cook a meal.  I edited my photos while Kathi worked on the journal.  I realized while in the air on the way to Anchorage that I forgot to bring our state puzzle pieces to toss to determine next year's destination. I decided that we could just FaceTime Tom and have him toss the states for us. Kathi thought a Zoom meeting would be better, so we did that instead. He found the Ziploc bag with the states and had a box ready to do the shaking in.  After chatting for a while, he put the states in this HUGE box, shook it, then turned it upside down and released the pieces.  The pieces that landed face up were: Arizona, Colorado and New York. NICE.  I love all of these!  We signed out of the zoom meeting with Tom and decided that we needed to watch the documentary "Unknown Number" upon the recommendation of Kathi's friend Katy.  We started it, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open and finally my body gave in and I fell asleep.  Kathi said she was nodding off, too.  She woke me up and said, let's call it a night.  Off to bed we went (at 8:41!) knowing we would have to get up and leave by 9:30 the next day to make it to our date with the Blue Too (our boat).

GW 2025. Homer, Alaska. Thursday, Oct 9 2025

Thursday, October 9, 2025

 

For the first time in a VERY long time, my travel day was more intense than Lori’s. There are so many more states in the eastern half of the country than in the western half. Since Lori lives on the west coast and I live in the Midwest, she usually has to leave home earlier and travel farther than I do. So, it’s only fair that once in a while the travel burden is heavier on me.

 

My alarm went off at 4:15 am EST and 30 minutes later sent the following text to Lori (for whom it was only 1:45 am): “The adventure begins! I'm in an Uber on the way to the airport.”  Lori would not need to be at the airport for another eight hours. This year marks the 28^th consecutive Girls Weekend, and I was so excited that it was underway!

 

I have been obsessing for weeks about packing for this trip. I was determined to do a full week in Alaska and take only a tote and a carry-on. I planned my wardrobe very carefully, focusing on layers. We knew the temps would be in the mid- to high 30s in the morning and warm up only to somewhere in the high 40s during the day. Plus, we knew there would be lots and lots of rain, and that we would be spending quite a bit of time outside. So . . . I started my packing list at least five weeks before the departure date. I succeeded in boarding the plane with only a (very heavy) carry-on and a tote. We’ll have to wait until later in the week to determine the success of my actual item choices.

BIG stuffed moose in the Anchorage airport

 

By the time I touched down in Anchorage, Lori had already been there for an hour, having been able to take a direct flight from Portland. Lori says it’s a beautiful airport with a gigantic taxidermied moose on full display. I’m sure she’s right, but upon leaving the plane, I headed straight for the bathroom and then for baggage claim to find Lori. Somehow, I missed the moose.

 

After our joyful hug fest, we set off to find the rental car. For the past four years, I have been acquiring rental cars exclusively from Turo rather than from traditional car rental companies. If you’re not familiar with Turo, think Airbnb for cars. Private owners renting their cars out for use. There are a few extra hoops to jump through, like taking a billion photos of the car through the Turo app before driving, but it is worth it. I save at least 15-30% or more on the total cost. For this trip, as a surprise for Lori, I rented a 2022 Mercedes-Benz SUV. It turned out to be a surprise for both of us since it took at least five minutes to figure out how to put the dang thing in gear, another five to understand that the button on the side of the seat did not, in fact, manipulate the seat, it was actually a mechanism in the door that made the seats move back and forth. We still don’t know what the button on the side of the seat does. The challenges continued once we were on the road. The stem coming out of the right side of the steering wheel that most often controls the wipers and windshield washer fluid was actually where the gear shift was located. It turned out the wipers were located on the LEFT steering wheel turn signal stem. It started misting on the drive, and I kept inadvertently putting the car in neutral WHILE ROLLING ON THE HIGHWAY rather than wiping moisture off the windows.

 

We did eventually safely arrive at the Fred Meyer in Anchorage to stock up for groceries. Lori had been warned that food was expensive in Alaska, and the warning was appropriate. The grocery bill was $240. The only meat we bought was one 4lb package of chicken breasts. Everything else was pretty much beverages, dairy products, bread, and fruit – we learned many trips ago not to over-purchase on groceries on these trips. Back in the car (and hopefully more adroit at manipulating the controls), we got on the road to Homer. Google maps told us the drive was 4 hours and 6 minutes. That was not even close to correct. It actually took 51/2 hours to get there. At just over 3 hours in, we decided to make a stop at a convenience store to grab a snack and go to the bathroom.

 

A couple of things happened as we approached a small town: a) the speed limit suddenly dipped to 45, and b) we saw a store on the left side of the road that came suddenly into view. The result of this was that I braked pretty quickly and whipped into the parking lot…followed quite closely by a state trooper who flipped on his lights. I have not been pulled over for speeding in maybe…20 years? This is not so much because I don’t occasionally speed, but rather that there seem to be no more cops on the streets of Indy who are concerned with such things. Anyway, my string of luck seemed to be over…but not really. Trooper Keith (who looked very much as if he was cutting high school and dressing up as a cop for Hallowe’en) introduced himself, informed me I had been going 58mph in a 45mph zone, asked for my license and registration, then took both back to his car to make sure all was well with my driving record. He returned relatively quickly and reported he was just giving us a warning, then proceeded to tell us that the salmon were still running and where we could go to see them. We also learned he had moved out to Alaska from northern California where he had a different career and decided to become a state trooper. Since he looked be about 17, his previous career must have been as a lemonade stand entrepreneur. All in all, it was a lovely encounter, and we chatted a while before he went on his way.

 

Before going into the store, I wanted to straighten the car in the parking spot, which was somewhat askew due to the emergent nature of needing to stop quickly. The car revved up but would not move a single inch either backward or forward. Somehow, during the encounter with the law, I had managed to turn on the apparently very effective parking brake. This was quite clever of me since I had no idea where the parking brake was. I finally found it, and soon we were in and out of the convenience store and back on the road.

 

Darkness had truly fallen by the time we reached our Airbnb at about 9:45pm. We unloaded everything from the car and settled in for a good chat. A couple of hours later, aside from a couple of short naps on my first flight, I had been up for almost 24 hours, so we headed to bed. What a full travel day – let Girls Weekend begin!!