America's Birthday.

As previously mentioned, we went across the bay to Seldovia Village for our 4th of July. The town consists of one main dirt road, a decaying Russian Orthodox church, a few local art studios, and a ridiculous amount of beautiful scenery. The weirdness of a village of 300 people generally cut off from the rest of the world and their way of celebrating is the real appeal of Independence Day celebrations in Seldovia. It never gets dark enough for fireworks this time of the year so people have to get creative. The festivities for the day included an egg toss (which we sadly missed), a fish toss (which we sadly did not miss), wood carving, canoe jousting (our personal highlight), log rolling, and other fantastic things. I'll let the photos speak for themselves but it was a fantastic day in bizarro world that we left cold, wet, and full of St. Louis pride.


This baby seagull we saw before we left was too adorable to not be included.


Seldovia Village.



THE road.

Chainsaw carving. Everyone in town was a professional at this. Double click to see the awesome fish scene.

Bad "otter" puns were rampant here. Griffin was in heaven.


Our strategy for the fish toss was to combat the slippery of the fish with dirt. Here I am preparing my new friend.


We lost pretty early on. Dead fish weight is tricky! (We are so freakin' photogenic.)


After some street food, local art browsing, and scenery appreciating, we headed to canoe jousting. Minutes before the event was to begin a call for one last team was put out and we rose to the challenge! Griffin and I have kayaked before but neither of us have canoed. We were competing against some very competitive people that grew up in canoes, all of which were prepared with full body wetsuits and swimsuits. Some lady braided my hair, we took off our jackets, and conjured our warrior spirits.

This photo of us preparing for battle is mostly for scenery context.


Here's Griffin ready to attack as I paddle us into battle!


Griffin got knocked into the water after a few valiant seconds.


THEN, Griffin grabbed the boat, launched himself inside, and flipped the whole thing over so that I could join him in the icy ocean. It looks like I'm kicking him in the head in this action shot of that wonderful moment.




The graceful rescue. (Getting back into a tipped over canoe is nearly impossible.)





So, we lost. Cold, wet, and uncomfortable in our jeans and my very white t-shirt, we returned to shore. Upon arrival the announcer let the 1000+ people watching know of our inexperience and our hometown of St. Louis. Everyone cheered for us and I felt like we represented the Lou pretty hard that day.

After acquiring a hot toddy from the one bar in town, we quickly boarded our ferry and returned to Homer. We haven't bought red meat from the grocery store in over six months now but gave in for the occasion. Ribs, beans, and beer with friends was to be our crowning 4th of July treat. We should have known that no ribs compare to our Midwest ribs luxury. The 4th was a lot of fun but contained a lot of reminders of home.