This is the second time I’ve gotten to spend Fourth of July in Seldovia.  The first was 10 years ago when I came up with Jens’ family for his cousin’s wedding.  I immediately decided that it’s one of the best places in the country to celebrate Independence Day.

Seldovia is a tiny town.  The full-time population is about 200 people, though that grows in the summer.  Every year, they have a parade that the townspeople and children participate in.  There are costumes, “floats,” food, vendor booths, contests and wood carvings.

I’m not sure what the group in the middle is supposed to be (the tubes they’re blowing in are hollow seaweed stalks often found on the beach), but the back three are three volcanoes in this area: Iliamna, Redoubt, and Spurr.

Junior Bikers

Seldovia Volunteer Fire Truck

George Washington Crossing the Delaware

Tribute to the Harbor Master

Kaelin’s favorite part was the candy. Every group in the parade that passed her threw a wad of candy at her feet. It was better than Halloween!

After the parade, we enjoyed a walk around the town.

I have an appreciation for the slightly irreverent, so I got a kick out of this.

We paused to admire the wood carvings:

Then the kids played around in the grass while we ate lunch (halibut spring rolls) on a park bench with a view of the harbor.

Then we headed over to “Old Seldovia,” where the main part of town was, prior to the Great Alaskan Earthquake that destroyed a lot of Alaska in 1964.  The town used to be built entirely on piers over the water, and was razed to the ground during the earthquake.  As a result, they decided to rebuild on the land, which is where the majority of town is now.  Old Seldovia is a very interesting mix of earthquake ruins and new construction, as they have rebuilt portions of it.

Old Seldovia

After our walk, we admired some more wood carvings, and then headed back down to the dock and across the bay to the cabin for some R&R.

On Saturday we took a boat ride down the bay a little ways until we came to a stretch of beach that has a waterfall.  Kaelin wanted to get out and see the waterfall, so we did … for a very short period of time, because the little trickle of water was surprisingly loud and sort of freaked Koren out.  He’s not into loud noises, especially when they’re made by water.  He did enjoy the boat, though.

Exploring Waterfalls

Adventure Girl

Boating

So far, it has rained 17 days this month.  We’ve had twice the average precipitation in inches, and the month isn’t even over yet.  It has been raining steadily all morning and doesn’t show signs of stopping any time soon.  Normally I would be jogging while the kids are in school, but since that’s not going to happen today, I figure it’s a good time to get caught up on some photos and blogging, n’est pas?

We suffered through about a week’s worth of clouds and rain, and then we finally got a beautiful, sunny afternoon on the last day our friends were here.

The Three Musketeers enjoyed running, running, laughing, playing and running around the back yard, while we grownups enjoyed weenie roasting and each other’s company.  The girls had a blast together and were great about including Koren, who tried to keep up as best he could.