Homer Thursday: Late start to the day today 0930 out of bed ! It was good to lie in and not have to move anywhere. I had done my washing last night and hung it out but it was still as wet so I had to hang it all inside, so we looked like a chinese laundry today. We sat having tea and toast for breakfast and wash all the huge Bus RV's load up and take off. They must have belonged to a club as they all had yellow vests on. Kaff was watching one husband going crook at his wife as she wasn't giving him the right directions...lol She was sent into the van and he did it himself. Very funny, even Kaff & I haven't reached that stage yet .
When we took off we visited the Visitors centre and got some info and checked out their museum . Then it was into Safeways for some groceries, then to the Post Office where they were as good as our Post Offices..ie short staffed and queues. Then we took off up the mountain behind the town to the beautiful vista of the town and the Spit with the glaciers behind..just gorgeous. I then decided to drive to a small Russian town about 30 minutes north of Homer along the Inlet of Kachemak Bay. The book said not to drive the last bit as it was very steep and unserviced ! Well that was an understatement. Just leaving the town we got stuck in roadworks and had to wait about 20 minutes and along from that we were dodging the dirt trucks and pot holes that were shaking the van apart. Finally we got to a point where the road narrowed to a steep drop off so I stopped. It was then we noticed the people that drove by in cars and on ATVs. The women all had scarfs on and the men hat, one with those big furry Russian numbers. I was thinking we had driven into a Mennonite Community....It was then I thought I started hearing the Banjo's play . Time to get out of Dodge I said.. So Kaff was back in the car and we were off back up the bumpy road. We stopped by another small community with a Russian name that doesn't even rate a mention on the map and it was there we saw some small kids playing and the little girls all had big long dresses on with headgear ... I must look it up on the internet to see what they were and if we were in any danger...lol.. I reckon it was a Sect and they didn't pay any taxes that's why the roads were so bad and they had no town signs because the Council would refuse to do anything for them..(That last bit was made up of course).
By the time we got back into town it was 1600 so we went down to the Spit to get a late lunch. That was when Kaff spotted the "Time Bandit"  That's one of the boats from the TV show "The Deadliest Catch". She had read that the boat was based here, but she has never even seen the show !!! So we wandered around the Marina taking photos of boats, We spoke with one fisherman but he did drag line fishing for Salmon & Halibut so he wasn't a TV star or anything.
Dinner/Lunch ended up at Patties which was packed, turns out the last week they are opened before they close for winter, they have all you can eat prawns and all the locals come down. So not to be outdone by the locals we joined in....Yummo ! We did have salad first.
On our way back along the Spit Kaff spied Sea Otters in a small inlet, so I backed up and we sat for half an hour trying to get photos of these critters floating along on their backs eating. Ducking down and picking up clams and small crabs then back up they come lying on their backs again to eat their catch. Funny to watch. They just don't come close enough for a good foto.