Seward

We planned the trip way back in January and for various reasons our schedule had us arriving in Seward on the 4th. In hindsight, it's amazing we were able to find a place to stay, since the 4th is a big, big deal in this place. We arrived by train from Anchorage a little after 11AM and walked the 1/2 mile or so to Murphy's Motel where we unloaded our stuff, then joined the throng headed into downtown.

The big attraction is the Mount Marathon Run - a desperate scramble up and down the mountain behind town that grew out of a bar bet a century ago. They claim this is the oldest organized running race in the country, after the Boston Marathon. We were in time to see the parade, which was colorful and a little hokey, the way parades tend to be. We got to see Ted Stevens, the still-living senator they named the Anchorage Airport after. Then we walked up to the top of Jefferson Street to wait for the men's race to come up from town and disappear up the mountain. The runners scramble through the trees, up the scree, up the slabs and the waterfall, whatever works. 45 minutes or so later, they reappear, tumbling back down the slope, blood on their knees, mud and snow on their clothing, and waving at the cheering crowd.

Seward was pretty gray most of the time we were there - but the hotel had a TV so D could watch football (or at least football news shows about quarterbacks with short-lived retirements) while his dad wandered beaches backed by parking lots filled with RVs.