September 10, 2013 Tuesday
Day 66

The sun was in and out today so we took advantage of the great weather and took a nice long walk on the beach. The tide was coming in, so on our way back, we walked the higher ground because the part of beach we had walked on earlier was under water. Tidal changes are fascinating.
We went to explore around Historic Old Town Homer, where Homer downtown was located for many years, until the 1964 earthquake, after which the current "downtown" moved to higher ground. There are a few artsy shops, inns and restaurants in this old part of town, so of course we had to check them out.

This entire trip, Michael has been looking for a unique wedding band to replace his original one that he lost, last year while kayaking in the Intracoastal Waterway near Emerald Isle, where we live. In Haines, he came close to getting a beautiful ring, made by a local artist, but it wasn't exactly right.

In Old Town Homer, we saw an historic building, built in 1937 that used to be a general mercantile, hardware and boarding house, until 1989. It is now the Bunnell Street Art Center. What a neat gallery, and happily, Michael found a beautiful silver ring with mountains etched on it. It was made by a local artist. Perfect ring because it was gorgeous, simple, and it had the mountains which Michael (and I) love so much. The artist will size it and send it to our house. Yay, he has a wedding ring again, and a nice memento from our trip, which has been like a second honeymoon for us.

We headed up the mountain for a scenic drive, on Skyline Drive, with awesome views of Homer and The Spit below, mountains, glaciers, the bay and the little runway that the small planes use. We had a picnic at one of the pull-offs with a view of Spit. Next we stopped at the Carle E. Wynn Nature Center, and hiked trails for an hour or so. Saw a porcupine just munching away on the trail a few feet ahead of us. We stopped to watch; he saw us and really spiked out, but kept eating and didn't run away.
On the way back from our drive we stopped to photograph a beautiful church up high on the mountain, All Saints of America Orthodox Mission.

Gas, Groceries, Camp. We depart from Homer tomorrow.

Wildlife Sightings
Porcupine