July 4th Celebration

Life is Grand, Love is Real, Beauty is Everywhere! ~Roger Clyne

We just polished off a wonderful 4th of July weekend celebration in Seldovia, AK with our entire Alaskan family. There are so many cool things in Seldovia, least of all the seclusion-no roads connect Seldovia to other towns, so we took a ferry ride over for our visit. This place is the quintessential summer destination to celebrate a long-lost art: Community. OK, so not everyone I came across this weekend actually lives in Seldovia. There were tourists, us among them, but locals, renters and second home owners happily filled the streets on a perfectly sunny July 4th morning.  

Thursday coming in the Seldovia Bay

We began our July 4th celebration with the Seldovia Salmon Shuffle 5K that wound its way through small town roads, out to the airport, and up multiple hills that surprised me! The whole family participated in the race. Nearly 150 runners, the largest shuffle to date, came out to run and support the local arts program. I came in 4th place at 24:01, almost beating my cousin...next time!

An annual chainsaw competition leaves artwork on display

The evening Seldovia Slough

The 4th of July celebration was super cool and the entire community was involved in some way. A wonderful parade kicked off the day through "Main St", costume contests and local vendors sold wares and homemade foods. As the sun continued to shine, a traditional egg toss and salmon toss brought the entire community together for endless entertainment! Nate and I participated in the Salmon toss, but didn't make it far into the competition. I was rather disappointed I wasn't able to throw a fish at my husband more than a handful of times...slippery little suckers!

Kids winning carnival prizes, parents enjoying some adult conversations, beer and ice cream warming too quickly by the sun, the day continued with a canoe jousting competition. It is what you think, standing up and jousting from a canoe. Nate participated, but ended up cooling off in the salty bay!   

Silver canoe - Nate at the helm!

Nate & partner in the bay!

We enjoyed some low key sea kayaking the day we arrived and a group of sea otters welcomed us to Seldovia, included a mama and her pup! Mother Nature and Uncle Ted gave us the wonderful opportunity to experience sailing their 20 ft. Flicka sailboat both Saturday & Sunday out and around the bay. On Saturday, the winds were strong, dipping our starboard rail into the water, we clocked b/w 5.5-6.5 knots. Sunday we were becalmed and had to start the engine to get us back into the harbor. I ended up steering us back into the marina before Uncle Ted took the helm to the boat slip. Thanks Uncle Ted for letting me drive through the narrow channel!

A boardwalk once lined the Seldovia waterfront, but after the 1964 earthquake, the contours of Seldovia changed. Higher tides became common, and houses and businesses needed to be rebuilt due to flooding. The small town feel still remains and we hope to revisit Seldovia in the future!

Spending a couple days in Homer with cousins and looking forward to biking, the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitors Center and visiting local spots before thumbing it back to Anchorage on Wednesday!

For now,
J&N

p.s. Don't worry mom, we're not hitch-hiking back to Anchorage, just wanted to see if you were paying attention!