Happy 4th of July !!

July 4th - Independence Day

they call me the "Fish Slayer"

 WOW !! What a great way to celebrate America's Indepence Day. The 4th was the start of our weekend and we kicked it off by getting up early and heading to the lake for some catching (it's only fishing when you don't catch fish). In an hour, I had landed us a couple of delicious trout using a lure called a "pixie".

We didn't stay long because we wanted to make sure we didn't miss the parade down Main Street and all the fun planned at the city park. We had looked forward to seeing the 4th of July parade from the moment we knew we would be in Haines. If you are in a small town on the fourth, there is not much that is better than seeing the parade. Any and all who want are encouraged to join in the parade and most everyone does. We saw a small boy (maybe 10) riding his mini-bike down the highway to join and both him and the bike were decorated in stars and stripes. He looked like Uncle Sam Jr.





We were getting ready to walk to downtown for a prime parade viewing spot when Shirley (our other boss) knocked on our door. She asked if we wanted to go flight-seeing for 2 hours over Glacier Bay National Park in half an hour. The day before, Lori had sold a couple from Sweden tickets for this flight, there were 2 other seats available and we were offered a free ride by the pilot as thanks for bringing him business. For about ten seconds, we were bummed about missing the parade but really it was a no-brainer decision...

...of course we wanted to go !!

 As you might imagine, the flight was SPECTACULAR !! Glacier Bay National Park is less than 40 miles over the mountains from Haines as the crow (or in this case...the "Bush Hawk") flies. It can only be reached by plane or boat and has no roads.

The mountain peaks range from 5,000 to 15,000 feet above sea level and with the cloud ceiling at 3,000 feet, we would be flying through valleys covered with ice to get there. It was a bit windy which made the ride bumpy and exciting, however, Paul had been flying here since 1987 and was one of the few pilots with rights to land inside the park.There are only a few left who fly tours into the park so we felt very fortunate to be taking this free ride. We flew through a few rain showers and could see spots of fresh snow (in July!!) on some of the peaks above us.

The park contains over 3 million acres of unspoiled fjords and mountain peaks. It is also home to 16 tidewater glaciers, 12 of which regularly calve icebergs into the bay and miles of ice-fields. The grandest glacier in the park, the Hopkins Glacier, is closed by the park service to boats this time of year because seals and sea lions birth and raise their young on icebergs in the bay. They come here to avoid whale and orca predators who do not like these silty, cold glacial waters.

The glaciers have receded drastically in the past 200 years since Capt. George Vancouver mapped the bay in 1794. At that time, the glacier in Icy Strait was more than 4,000 feet thick, up to 20 miles or more wide, and extended more than 100 miles to the St. Elias Range of mountains. But by 1879 naturalist John Muir found that the ice had retreated 48 miles up the bay. If you want to check out more about this amazing place here is a link http://www.nps.gov/glba/index.htm .
Be sure to check out the map, it shows the retreat of the glaciers throughout the recorded history of the area.
http://www.nps.gov/pwr/customcf/apps/maps/showmap.cfm?alphacode=glba&parkname=Glacier%20Bay%20National%20Park%20and%20Preserve

Cruise ships making the inside passage venture up the main channel and look tiny among the grand landscape.

Glacial lakes trapped up in the mountain valleys were everywhere and the contrast of their clear waters with the silty bay was dramatic.

WOW !! What a ride of a lifetime !!

 

After coming down to earth, we headed to the city park to catch up with the 4th of July celebration. It looked like everyone in the whole town was there having a great time. The cheeseburgers were sold out (crushing...what I wouldn't give for a "5 Guys" double right now) so we settled on a bratwurst which didn't seem very American to me (it's not even a hot dog). We were too late to get Lori signed up for the pie eating contest (lucky break for the competition) and I missed the running race up Mt. Ripensky (my running shorts were dirty anyway) but we were in time to watch all the races for the kids. They had all ages racing all kinds of races including somersault, cartwheel, wheelbarrow, rolling and crawling.

Later that night we went to the Fort Seward parade grounds where they had live music on the grassy field where you get an incredible view of the Lynn Canal and the fireworks show that has to wait until 11pm for it to get dark enough. We met some great people throughout the day and ended the fourth partying with this group of adventure seekers who are filming a show they call "Dangerous Waters". They are a great bunch of guys and we wish them good luck on the adventure. Stay safe guys !!

Dangerous crew and the "Frisbee Fox" in the command center

These guys are on a Seadoo adventure that started in Seattle and will end when they trek to Nome Alaska where they will then ride across the Bering Sea and plant the stars and stripes on Russian soil. After riding up the inside passage, they had just arrived in Haines today and were met by their team mate who had driven their command center and trailer up the Alcan. Their show has been picked up and will air in March of 2012.
You can find out more about their adventure and show by visiting their website http://seadooadventures.com/

They have future Seadoo adventures planned for all 7 continents including riding up the Amazon and rounding Cape Horn (the most dangerous waters on the planet). They have even talked with the crew of the Sea Shepard from "Whale Wars" about teaming up while in the southern ocean. I plan on talking them into having me drive their command center on future treks (they don't know it yet) with the help of Lori and "Frisbee Fox"

The fireworks show was unforgettable set against the Alaskan backdrop with live Bluegrass playing. The mosquitoes tried to run us out but we battled them off splatting them wherever they landed. Lori ended up with an almost patriotic hairdo - white hair (ok...maybe grey) with blood red spots, all she lacked was blue.

Hope you all had a FANTASTIC 4th of July !!

I know we did.

What a COUNTRY !!