Happy 4th of July!!

By some miracle, I ended up with July 4th and 5th off! Lucky me.  Seward does their fireworks at midnight on the 4th, which I thought was weird at first, but it makes sense. It's darkest out around midnight- still not completely dark, but good enough for the fireworks.  Before the fireworks, I went to a small (both in terms of people and size of the fire!) bonfire, then some of us drove to the other side of the bay to watch the show.  The fireworks were good, but of course I was comparing them to Disney and the great show they always put on :) After the fireworks, I went back home and then ended up going out to a bar called The Pit.  Fun times. 

July 4th is a big deal in Seward- the town goes from a population of 3000 to over 20000! The big draw is the Mount Marathon Race, which is essentially a 5k that includes climbing up the mountain, 3022 feet to the top.  I went downtown to watch the men's race, and the streets were all closed off, with food booths and people selling stuff. It was really amazing to watch the racers climbing the mountain-granted, all I could see of them was little dots moving upward, because I didn't bring my binoculars- but it was awesome nonetheless. The men's winner set a new record- he finished in 42:55! Unbelievable. 

When Teres & I were here last summer, we tried climbing the mountain- totally not successful. So my goal for this summer is to get to the summit (without hurting myself). I haven't even tried it yet, so I better get on it! I certainly do not plan on going up & down in 40 minutes- I'm thinking many hours! 

The little non-green dots are the racers!!

This guy was the winner and new record-setter!