Actually, we ended up “managing” it longer than expected, as the water was too rough on Sunday to take the boat across the bay, so we missed our ferry and had to stay an extra night at the cabin.  By the time we all left, I’m sure Cyndy was quite ready to have her cabin back.

One of the highlights of the weekend was when we had everybody together for a fresh-caught seafood dinner, complete with brownies and cake for dessert.

The kids know they can always rope Uncle Larry into a story or three.

When the Rainbow dropped us off in Seldovia, we made the tour of the town.

We stopped for lunch at our favorite restaurant in Seldovia, the Tide Pool.

Cool Dude

Ah, McDonald's Happy Meal toys - the throw-away toys that somehow never get THROWN AWAY.

You can’t go through Seldovia without seeing the chainsaw carvings. There’s a contest every Memorial Day Weekend and the winners are displayed around the town.

Chainsaw Carvings: Good for Hugging

Chainsaw Carvings: Good for Climbing

Chainsaw Carvings: Good for Riding

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

We still had fun, despite spending more time inside the boat than out of it, and walking around in the rain once we got there.  We saw a lot of birds (who, en masse, are very stinky) and a few otters.  Once we arrived at Seldovia, we ate lunch in town with Jim and Cyndy (and Koren, who had spent the night with his grandparents).  Jim and Cyndy then taxied us to the cabin in their boat so our guests could see what rustic cabin life was like (we call it camping for yuppies).

We all enjoyed each other’s company and Koren even got in a small nap.

But seriously, Alaska?  You’d better bring out the sun for 4th of July or I’m going to have to open a serious can.

Here are some shots of the animals around Seldovia.

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.