Back in Fairbanks

I'm back in Fairbanks for at least the summer. Driving up from Homer, I took a little detour to visit Seward, a town I've never seen. Seward is one of the older towns in Alaska, established in 1903, only a year or two after Fairbanks. It's the southern terminus of the Alaska Railroad and an important fishing port. A population of only about 3000 people (of which males outnumber females 150 to 100).

Though Seward and Homer are on the same Kenai Peninsula, they are on opposite sides of the Kenai Mountains and enjoy different climates. While Homer is dry (for a maritime location), Seward is a rain forest, and the mountains drop precipitously into the water of Resurrection Bay. Fjords and glaciers abound.

The photo at the top of this post is a WWII-era quonset hut converted into a residence that I found driving around the compact residential area. At the bottom is a charming houseon a steep hillside probably from the same era.