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-
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"
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