July 17, 2010 - The russian Orthodox church at Ninilchik, AK Checked out of the Bay Ave B&B in Homer. V had a long chat with the owner of the B&B who had come to Alaska a long time ago seeking work on the fishing boats in the summer, ended up staying for good & running the B&B. Most Alaskans are from elsewhere. We drove towards Anchorage via Ninilchik, stopping at this Russian Orthodox Church. The temperature was about 50, cloudy & quite foggy. The last time we were here in 2002, Ninilchik was a much smaller fishing village. From there onto Soldotna to sample salmon at the Peninsula Smokehouse, then onwards until the Sterling highway meets with the Seward highway heading to Anchorage. Only, we turned the other way, towards Seward. An easy hike up to the Exit Glacier in Seward. V's parents made it all the way to the top, probably peer pressure. There were tons of hikers, it being a weekend. There were plenty of strange signs along the route. 1960. 1975. 1989. 1890. etc. Finally figured out that these were the signposts indicating how far the glacier had advanced in the past. Compared to then, the glacier has receded a lot. From Exit to the town of Seward, where V posed for a picture outside a historic hotel she stayed in during a trip by herself to Seward in 2005. Fond memories. Started off to Anchorage airport around 8pm, a straight drive with a few stops at the Turnagain Arm to shoot the train as it makes it past the neat curves in those parts. Checked into Alaska Airline at 11:30pm, then waited over an hour for the pilots to check in, as their airplane had been delayed on its way from Fairbanks! Finally, we said our goodbyes to Alaska way past midnight. This is our fourth trip to Alaska, and we've been averaging a trip every 2 years. The attraction to Alaska is almost primal. We love the expanse of the mountains, the oceans & glaciers & abundant wildlife, and we discussed the perpetual question "So when shall we move to Alaska for good ?" yet again. No clear answers, but then we seldom plan anything. We are a very impulsive couple. One fine day we might just chuck our lives in the Lower 48 & run away to AK for good :) V & K. ( all pics by V, all captions by K )

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From Daily Photos 2010