Walking in the woods around Anchorage is always an interesting experience for one who has eyes to see the small details. Multi-colored mushrooms spring up from the spongy floor looking like it fell out of a Mario Brothers video game.Afternoon light pierces a wood of birch trees, reminding us that summer is drawing to a close. Green leaves melt into red and yellow, and autumn squeezes past the summer sun and takes hold of the season.

to the north of Anchorage is the tiny native village of Eklutna, Alaska. First settled more than 800 years ago, Eklutna is the oldest inhabited location in the Anchorage area. In the 1840s Russian Orthodox missionaries came to Eklutna and brought with them a melding of orthodox Christianity and native traditions that resulted in brightly-colored spirit houses which can be seen at the Eklutna cemetery.