There’s a kind of “boat graveyard” on the Homer Spit that I often pass while jogging down the trail. It’s a curious place, and nobody seems to know much about it. Apparently there’s a man who buys retired boats. I’m not sure if his intention is to fix them up or sell them, but there doesn’t seem to be much progress going on in either direction. One exception to that is the boat I call the “Pirate Ship,” which has recently seen some re-siding. I believe he uses this ship for an office, or perhaps even a home.
I took my camera down there a few weeks ago because the historical significance of these old boats interests me. I’m sure several of them date back to pre-Earthquake. I hope that sometime while I’m here I can find out more about the individual boats and owner of the facility.
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.
George Washington crossing the Delaware:
A 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:
And let the kids play 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.
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.
