This church was built by a group of people who left Russia under religious persecution, settled in South America, didn't do well there and finally settled on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska (a "thumb" of land that juts out below Anchorage) where they've flourished.

Fireweed

The fireweed is another wildflower that shows up all over Alaska. You can see it here in the little meadow behind the bushes of white wild parsley. Alaskans use it as a guide for just how much longer summer is going to last. As summer wears on, the little flowerlets open further and further up the stem. When the flowerlets die and the red stems are covered with a feathery, white fuzz, we know that winter is only a 6 weeks away.