4th of July, 2009 HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

TODAY WE CELEBRATE OUR GREAT NATION'S 233RD BIRTHDAY.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Seward has a lot going on today so we went downtown around 11:30 It wasn't too hard to find a parking place which surprised us. Of course we took the first one we saw. The town has a large municipal parking lot and they don't try to gouge the public. They charge $5.00 to park all day. A welcome change to some places we've been.

On the way into town we saw this sign. Wouldn't you like to see this sign on your streets?

So we stop at the restrooms before we walk downtown and you'll never guess what I found. A Nikon Coolpix camera! Floating in the toilet! (Yes, the water was clean) I found a stick pen in my pocket and hooked under the strap and lifted it out. I dried it off and took it out to the truck and sat it on the dash in the sun to dry out. I figured it couldn't hurt and if it didn't work, oh well.

This boat is heading out to sea.

We're going to try very hard to get in a front row at the city campground......

....... so that this is our view.

What a way to start out the day if you look at this.

Here's another one of those signs that don't give me the warm and fuzzies.

I like things to match. I want my two living room end tables to look alike. Nightstands would match in my world. I want my right shoe to look exactly like my left shoe. I like colors to match or to at least go together. When the kids were at home I loved Garanimals! You were assured that a shirt with a giraffe tag would "match" a pair of pants with a giraffe tag. Same as the gorilla tags and the lion tags,,,,everything would match. Actually, I would like Garanimals for adults! I like the way our 5th wheel graphic colors match the graphic colors on our truck. That was pure luck but I was a happy camper when we hooked them together and realized the colors were the same....or nearly so. I noticed this tow vehicle and tiny trailer today and I wanted to give the driver a color citation because they colors of these vehicles clashed so badly. One of these vehicles NEEDS to be painted! Ahhh, I feel better now, I just had to get that out.

Woudn't this be like the perfect way to spend a 4th of July? Or any day for that matter!

Seward is having a 4th of July parade today so we walked up to 4th street to see it all.

I've never seen a unicycle with three wheels before. Now that I think about it I guess it isn't a unicycle? What would you call it?

The town trolley got all decked out for the parade.

This Viet Nam vet has his a special paint job for his Vette.

A trailer carrying a truck advertising a Mud Bog Race the next day.

There were your usual parade staples, a fire truck, the mayor sitting in a convertible, Miss Teen Seward and all the other small town dignitaries that are showcased in the 4th of July parade.

The streets of this small town were quite crowded.

What I want you to take notice of in this next picture is the mountain. It's 3200 feet high and it played a major part in the five mile foot race today. Yep, participants have to race to the top of the mountain and back down again.

The trail in the center of the picture is the way up and trail to the right is the way down. Time to beat? 43 minutes! I couldn't do this in 43 HOURS!!!

And they're off!

All ages took part in this race. Twentysomethings to the most senior or seniors.

This guy looks tired before he even starts.

Up the mountain they go.... (dead center)

On the trail coming down you can see bursts of dust. That's the runners sliding down the mountain. We were told it was too steep to run down so they had to slide in places. (Dead center)

In this picture you can tell there are quite a few coming down at the same time.

Here comes the first one down! It is just 41 minutes when he passes us and he has two more block to go. Maybe a new record!

A race against time....

Everyone got cheers and clapping as they passed.

This little girl "slapped five" with almost every runner that came in and she was just thrilled with each one.

We found out later that the fella who was pictured as the first one down from the mountain collapsed about 100 feet from the finish line. He tried to crawl to the line to win the race but just couldn't make it. Now we know he was in the ambulance that went by shortly after he passed us. So close to the line and so close to breaking the record. We hope he's ok.

As we were walking back to the truck we strolled down by the water and saw this motorcycle.

We took a ride on some of the back roads before heading home. When we got there we got busy getting dinner ready. We celebrated the 4th with a nice steak dinner. Yep, a good day.