Matt and Chelsea's Alaskan Summer: Fourth of July in Seldovia

After we had been in Alaska for several days, we realized that the fourth of July was getting pretty close. So, I googled what there was to do in Alaska on the 4th. One of the several options that came up was from a town called Seldovia. Only accessible by plane or boat, it was called charming and Alaska's best kept secret. With a population of only 286, the entire town participates in the fourth of July festivities which include a 5k run in the morning, pancake breakfast, parade, games like canoe jousting and log rolling, food boothes and arts and crafts.

We took the boat over early in the morning. It was about an hour and a half boat ride where we saw several sea otters floating on their backs with their feet out of the water watching all of us pass by. We arrived in Seldovia around 9:30am with all of our hiking and camping stuff in our backpacks. We didn't want to head out to Outside Beach where we were going to camp just yet so we asked the Harbor Master if we could store our stuff somewhere. She told us she didn't know of a place, but that we could walk up the street and put it in one of her cabins that she rents out. we couldn't believe that she would show strangers such hospitality. So we thanked her and stashed our stuff there. After that we watched the parade, set up camp on the beach, ate some food and watched the canoe jousting.

So... we were really cold, put on our beanies and down jackets and still people were volunteering to go out in a canoe and potentially be dunked in water. That was when we realized that Alaskans are tough, and we are not. We must have watched for a couple of hours, it was actually really entertaining to see people knock each other into the water with oars wrapped with heavy styrofoam. There were lots of soaking wet freezing people, some hot tempers, a little blood... The winners were some local boys from seldovia, go figure they knew the strategy. After the games, one of the local churches had a potluck and service. We went, even though out-of-towners totally stick out like sore thumbs. We ate a lot of great food and went to their service. There were lots of traditional American songs and a short sermon. Very nice, only a handful of people. And I have to admit that I might have done a head bob while trying desperately to stay awake. I know that is so rude and I really did try my hardest to stay awake, but it had been a long day... We went back to the beach after that, ate our canned beans and tomato soup, and slept relatively well.

To get to and from town, except for the first hike where we walked a round-about way along a road, we took the "Otterbahn" trail- a 3/4 mile trail through the forest, tall trees, berry fields, wooden planks. It was a great walk everyday. No bears.

The next day we slept in and hung around the beach. We walked around the tide pools and when the sun came out we took a nap on the beach- very nice. I guess there are supposed to be 12 different species of sea stars in the tide pools, but we saw none. We had lunch and then walked into town. We checked out the nature center/ small museum and read about the history of Seldovia.

The town area was inhabited by native people until the Russians established the area as a fur trading post because of the high populations on sea otters. Many of the areas in Alaska are influenced by the Russians, since many of the first explorers of the region were Russian. Thats not hard to imagine considering that the distance from mainland Russia to mainland Alaska is only 59 miles and from any part of Russia to any part of Alaska is only 1.2 miles. I guess Seldovia used to be one of the most important fishing hubs in Alaska since it was the farthest northwest seaport that didn't freeze over for the winter. But then there was a 9.2 magnitude earthquake which decimated the city. Since the tides in Seldovia can rise over 26 feet every 6 hours, much of the town was flooded and had to be completely rebuilt. During that time, the fishing industry was moved to Homer and the population fell from 2000 to less that 300.

After learning all about Seldovia's history, we tried to find a place to eat. We checked out several places which were all closed or expensive and as we were leaving one of the shops, a woman ran out asking us to come back in and chat with her friend. Her friend asked us if we had been looking for a place to take showers, and we told her we were just looking for a place to eat. This woman was the MC for the canoe jousting games and we had chatted with her and her husband at church the night before. She invited us to dinner at her inlaws house and insisted we come. Her husband had grown up in Seldovia and she was from Fairfield in northern California. They met at Biola University in socal, had six kids, and now lived in Colorado. We felt awkward at first but she and her family were so kind and friendly that they made us feel right at home. Her inlaws were both from LA, but moved up to a small town above the arctic circle to teach english. Before they knew it, they had fallen in love with Alaska, had adopted an native Alaskan daughter and were calling Alaska home. When they found Seldovia they knew they wanted to raise their family there. We ate a delicious meal and before we knew it, the woman's father-in-law was offering to give us a tour of Seldovia Bay on his boat. At first we refused his offer, since they had already shown us so much kindness, but they assured us that he loved to go out on his boat and that it wasn't an inconvenience, that they'd love to. So we accepted.

So long story short, we got an amazing boat ride around Seldovia bay, a history lesson, saw a half dozen bald eagles and sea otters and the many jelly fish currently residing in the waters. I even got a boat driving lesson where he showed me how to bring the boat on top of the water, since it was a planar type of boat and sat on top of the water rather than plowing through the water like V-shaped boats- much faster he assured me. It was really fun and we will never forget Seldovia nor its kind and generous people.

The next day we ate some delicious fish and chips from the Madfish Restaurant and took our boat back to Homer. We drove up to Kenai, saw another moose plus moose prints in the sand at the house then spent the night.