Trisha was feeling a little better after using the inhaler the doctor prescribed, so on our last day in Homer we took a drive up the road to Ninilchik, to see an old Russian Orthodox Church we had read about. There's still a pretty significant Russian community in this part of Alaska, stemming from the original Russian fur trappers who came here before Russia sold it to the US. It was a small church, but the Russian Orthodox style of architecture is really interesting, and we were glad to see it. It was in a lovely setting, but the cemetery on the grounds had been allowed to grow over, which was sad. In a lot of ways this setting reminded us of a Lutheran church we had seen sitting by itself on a hill in rural Montana with Wendell and Jennifer last year--just sort of by itself like that, up on a hill. As we were coming up to the church a woman was walking up to the front door and unlocked it, so Trisha went inside. We had Sophie with us, so I stayed outside with her while Trisha went in. She said it was a lot like other orthodox churches we had seen both in Greece and Ethiopia, with lots of icons along the walls--but there were no pews or chairs. So I guess the congregation typically just stands throughout the whole service, again like the Ethiopian and Greek Orthodox churches we had seen.
On the way back out of the road leading to the church we came upon a couple of moose alongside the road. Both were adult females, but we could not see any calves nearby. They were calmly eating some leaves and we got to watch them for a good little while--so cool!
We found another little Russian community in the area and went to another Orthodox church, this one named St. Nicholas. It was closed, though, so we could not go inside, and it was under a lot of renovation. Anyway, it was a beautiful drive, though, and it was so good that Trisha was beginning to feel better!
Stopped on the way out of Homer for some beautiful views
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