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.
Naturally, we went to Seldovia for Memorial Day Weekend. The kids had a blast, as always, and I was glad to see that even the locals were wrong when they said it always rains throughout Memorial Day Weekend.
This was the first time we were able to take our favorite Seldovia shuttle, the Rainbow, to our destination. It beats getting dropped off at Jackelof Bay and having to be picked up and driven the rest of the way. Kaelin enjoyed the bigger boat, which we had all to ourselves on the outbound trip. Koren thought it was a little too loud, but did fine once we moved inside the cabin.
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We spent Memorial Day Weekend in Seldovia (pictures to come) and returned to a different Homer. The whole town exploded into Summer over the weekend.
The crowds came in, the shops opened up, and healthy, green plants sprang up absolutely everywhere. The woods around our house are thick and green, the grass is vibrant, and the ferns have sprouted at least a foot in a matter of days.
Amazing transformation.
The last week - despite the forecasts - has been sunny and hovering around 65°. Today was the first overcast day all week and the blue sky started poking through late this afternoon. The forecast continues to predict rain every day for the foreseeable future. We’ll see how that goes.
Jens was sick last week. He had some sort of nasty flu-like virus that took him down pretty hard for about 3 days. He even called in sick to work, which he very rarely does.
Then he was nice enough to give it to me. I’ve been slacking on my Vitamin D doses and now I’m paying for it.
All things considered, it actually wasn’t too bad as illnesses go. As a SAHM, I don’t get “sick days,” so it was fortunate that I was not up to par on a weekend/holiday because that meant there were other people around to care for the kids. Now I just have these annoying cold-like symptoms - itchy eyes, runny/stuffy nose. Blah. I can’t remember the last time I had a cold. It must have been before Koren was born.
I think I’ll make a point never to get another one.
