Day 21
1964, the Plan: Valley View to Calgary, AB.
1964, the Actuality: On Thursday, August 6, the Explorer Scouts were on their way home. They had at least 5,000 miles to go from Cantwell, AK. Kent remembers that the adults took turns driving and sleeping, in order to drive through the nights as well as during the day.
Tuesday,, July 4, 2017
Happy Independence Day!
We had rearranged our itinerary to avoid being in Seward on July 4th, because of the Mt Marathon Race, held annually since 1915, where 1,000 people run about 1.5 miles up the mountain called Mt Marathon, then scramble back down!
We checked out of the Kings Landing Hotel, but would spend the night again in Homer, AK.
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Gold Mine Gifts, supposed the largest gift store in Alaska,
has year-round snow on the roof |
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| When we arrived on Homer Spit, it was completely fogged in (KSS) |
Originally we had scheduled to take the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry to Seldovia and back from Homer, but it was cancelled because the boat, the historic MV Tustamena, would be in dry dock. Betsey let us know about other ferries, and we were fortunate to get seats on the Seldovia Bay Ferry. The usual fare for seniors is $40 one-way, but a special July 4th rate was advertised at $50. Okay. But to our surprise, that special rate was $50 round-trip!
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| Seldovia Bay Ferry is run by the Native tribe of Seldovia |
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| Leaving Homer as the fog lifts |
We left Homer at 9:00 and arrived in Seldovia 45 minutes later. Seldovia can only be acessed by boat or plane.
The Russians set up a fur trading post on the site of an old Inuit village here, naming it Seldevoy/Herring Bay in 1787-1788.
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Seldovia Village Tribe Visitor Center usually opens
at noon, but was open early for July 4th |
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Seldovia is filled with chain-saw carvings; a
Chainsaw Carving Competition is held annually (KSS) |
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| "Whimsical" house decoration (KSS) |
Seldovia's main street was built along an elevated boardwalk, and the buildings were on stilts because the tide rose 26 feet at peak. During the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake, the land settled six feet, meaning there was a 32-foot tide to submerge the boardwalk and flood the buildings. Landfill was brought to raise the level of the land, and only a small portion of boardwalk (not the very first one) remains.
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| Seldovia Main Street boardwalk |
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| A former boardwalk house |
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| A Perennial Walk (KSS) |
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| Seldovia boardwalk businesses |
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| Raven at bird feeder |
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| Boot planters (KSS) |
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Another whimsical house decoration,
a top hat bird house (KSS) |
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| Even the fire hydrants are decorated |
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| View from bridge of houses on Seldovia Slough |
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| A deck with a tree growing through it |
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| Another chainsaw carving |
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| Prince of Peace Lutheran Church |
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| Crab Pot Grocery |
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Toby and Elaine Craft were two local chainsaw
carvers who competed in other states, and
brought the competition to Seldovia in 2006 |
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| Chainsaw carving as playground equipment |
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| Painted chainsaw carving |
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| St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church (1891) |
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| An ATV parking lot |
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Lunch of red sockeye tacos (from a food stand)
overlooking the Seldovia harbor |
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The Fourth of July Parade in Seldovia included
two fire engines, with someone on top throwing candy |
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| All the "floats" were family-made |
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| Another "float" (KSS) |
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| A larger "float" (KSS) |
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Time for a beer, with a chainsaw carving,
Yellow-eye Fish (2014, by Chris Foltz from Oregon) |
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| This dog takes himself for a walk (KSS) |
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| Cleaning the catch |
At 12:30, we boarded the Seldovia Bay Ferry to return to Homer.
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| Wake of the Seldovia Bay Ferry |
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| Approaching Homer |
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| Following the leader into the Homer small boat harbor |
Day 21 continues...
I like Seldovia - very quaint!
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