Stuff I Didn't Expect

At the suggestion of one of the ladies in the Visitor Center, I'd pointed my rental car south on Chiniak Highway and then turned onto Pasagshak Bay Road headed for the views at Surfer's Beach, but the road kept going and so did I - headed towards the end of the road at Fossil Beach.

The map mentioned it, but I didn't expect the road to go through the middle of a state owned missile launch complex.

The gate was open, so I kept going. The last part of the road to the beach was clearly not designed for rental cars but I didn't require a tow truck to get back up the washed out hill, so it's all ok!

Turns out the launch complex - "The Other Cape" - has been developed as an economic development project by the state. It currently has two launch pads used to place payload into polar orbit patterns.

The other surprise was back in town at the float plane basin. These planes are now quite rare in military form and especially when titled with the very rare (they only made two) civilian model number. I'm going to have to check my old log books, but I'm just about positive I towed gliders in this specific plane when it was on wheels in the Northwest. Small world!

Ring Those Bells

When I have the chance, I try to get pictures of Russian Orthodox Churches because they sometimes have interesting architecture and they're so connected with Alaska's history. The church in Kodiak surprised me because it obviously wasn't as old as I'd anticipated. Turns out this building was built in the 1940s after the previous iteration burned to the ground.

This building is the 4th since the parish was established in 1794. Yes, that's right - 1794. And there's more to the story.

Off to one side of the church is a collection of broken bells and a cast plaque that tells the story. When the church burned in 1943, the only thing that remained were the broken bells.

Some of the bells had been cast in Kodiak between 1794 and 1796. Others had been added at various times.

When the church was rebuilt after WWII, there weren't enough funds to replace the bells, so for over 35 years the belfry was empty.

In 1979, members of the parish and others donated funds to buy eight new custom cast bells from France. Not just parish members but members of the community including the local newspaper -

another example of Alaskan spirit!