Sunday, July 3

The trail outside the visitors center was a good find. A well maintained 3/4 mile trail complete with moose!

Mom moose crossed the boardwalk and baby was a little reluctant but he finally followed.

There were at least 2 pair of sandhill cranes with chicks in the slough.

Here is one pair with their chicks.

The local ravens (AKA dumpster chickens) were out on the trail with us.

This morning was a glorious morning. Where was the sun yesterday. No matter, we went to church this morning at the Homer United Methodist Church. It was a wonderfully warm congregation with a husband and wife ministry team. We were greeted at the door and given a small gift bag that included homemade raspberry jam. The sanctuary was small but warm and inviting with a beautiful stained glass window in the front. After the service they gathered in the downstairs solarium for cookies, brownies and punch. A wonderful beginning to our day. We had lunch at the Fresh Catch Cafe on the spit. Barb and I had the yellow-finned rockfish sandwich, Sharon had a cheeseburger and Andy had the prime rib Philly sandwich. We then went to the Alaska Island and Ocean Visitors Center in Homer. It had some wonderful exhibits and several short films about the area. The last film was about Alaska's grizzlies. As we were walking to the car we decided to walk the short hike along the beluga slough. As we rounded the first turn we saw a moose with her calf. I ran back to the car to get Mr. B so he could see them. Once he was on the boardwalk he finished the walk with us. We walked all the way to Bishop's Beach on the sound and saw some sandhill cranes with their chicks. Tomorrow we are so hoping the weather holds and we will be able to go on our Bear/Wildlife viewing flight. If not, we will head back to Anchorage and see what kind of mischief we can get into while we are there. As for tonight our plan is to dine on the 4 pints of Hagen Daz ice cream that we have in the freezer and have a Hostess cupcake for dessert. YUMMY!