July 4, 2006

Our first two Independence Days together were in Alaska - in 2003, we were in Talkeetna at the Fairview, the local bar where everyone knew our names, and in 2004, we were in Juneau watching the fireworks over the harbor, eating chocolate-covered ice cream on a stick (an American delicacy!). Last year, we missed out. We were in Bar Harbor, Maine, watching fireworks over the Atlantic Ocean - wonderful, but something was missing. Maybe it was the sunlight.

Today was great. In Seward, they have what's called the Mount Marathon Race. The mountain a little taller than 3000 feet that looms over our small town here is called Mount Marathon, and every 4th of July there are races to run up it. We have dreams of hiking up it, but running up it? The record is about 50 minutes to run all the way to the top and back, and we were very excited to enjoy the races - and of course all the food - barbeque pork, hot dogs, bratwurst, reindeer sausage, strawberry rhubarb pie (Erin's favorite!), and even an old standard from our lives in Hawaii, shaved ice.

And of course, as always with us, the random little experiences... like a drunk guy at 9:35 in the morning pulling us aside (out of the 20,000 people in town, why did he pick us?) to take our picture. He saw us in our work uniforms and thought Begee's nametag said "Bruce." (For some reason, this really made us laugh.) He pulled out his disposable camera, we posed and smiled, and he clicked the button 5 or 6 times. Nothing happened. Finally Erin said, "Um, I think you have to advance it." "Ooohhh... of course!" SNAP! "I promise I'll find you and give you this picture. I'm going to go develop it now," he said (at least, we think that's what he said - he was slurring a bit) and stumbled back into the crowd. Umm... okay. (And he never did give us our picture!)

As always with seasonal jobs, we were working on the holiday, but we made the best of it - taking short breaks to run across the street and watch the race and parade. It helped that we offered to buy hot dogs for our co-workers! We cheered as the first woman crossed he finish line - a Seward girl who won last year too! - and the second, an Olympic athlete. We clapped as a little boy who had entered the junior race and gotten injured crossed the finish line still holding his ice pack. We cheered as the first man came down the mountain. We clapped for the sherpa from Nepal and the oldest man in the race at 77 years old. We went crazy for the Elvis impersonator as he ran by (Elvis has officially left the building!... It had to be said.). We even got to watch the parade, and Begee took lots of pictures of the big orca (killer whale) balloon in the sky.

We were impressed by the determination, the perseverance, and the dedication the runners had... and we wondered if they minded us all shoving our faces with hot dogs as they passed by. It all seems so appropriate, so American, so Alaskan, and so... right. We couldn't have asked for more out of our fourth 4th of July together... Maybe some cotton candy, but there was just the right amount of sunlight.


Seward, Alaska map - Tagzania