Small Town Fourth of July
We were up fairly early at the Walmart parking lot. After breakfast, we wandered over to the Sportsman's Warehouse. a primarily west coast retailer of camping, hunting and fishing gear in the manner of Bass Pro Shops or Cabelas. Ellen was looking for a bug hat, but we found an acceptable bug net that she could wear over one of her other hats. We also found a rain hat for me. I have one, but it is in Cohasset and it has been a pretty rainy trip so far with rain most days.
Harry had gone off to have an oil change at Walmart and then they joined us at the Sportsman's Warehouse before driving to the College Coffeehouse for morning coffee. After coffee, it was off to the botanical garden so Ellen and Sally could do their morning birding (there isn't much to see in a Walmart parking lot). Sally was hoping to find the Common Redpoll we'd seen a couple of days ago. She did. One was practically waiting for us near the entrance to the gardens.
Harry had gone off to have an oil change at Walmart and then they joined us at the Sportsman's Warehouse before driving to the College Coffeehouse for morning coffee. After coffee, it was off to the botanical garden so Ellen and Sally could do their morning birding (there isn't much to see in a Walmart parking lot). Sally was hoping to find the Common Redpoll we'd seen a couple of days ago. She did. One was practically waiting for us near the entrance to the gardens.
It was a short walk and we parted ways for the day. They wanted to visit the University museum, which we'd already seen. We were off to Nenana to use it for a first night stopover on our way south, staying again at the same pleasant RV park there.
We arrived during the local Fourth of July festivities. practically running into one of the kid's bicycle races. The entire downtown was blocked off for activities. We had missed the parade, but there were hundreds of people along the main street for the fun and games, mostly for kid's. Nenana seemed like a pretty small town, but it obviously supports a much bigger community around it.
There were bicycle races for kids which were one lap sprints around the block for various age groups— the winner got $5, everyone got a quarter. There had been an egg and spoon race before we arrived. We could tell by the broken eggs all over the street. After the bike races, there was a pie eating contest for kid's under 11. The pies were full size pie tins filled with chocolate pudding which had two be eaten with no hands...many chocolate-covered faces were to be seen. The final event was a "pop scramble" where they set up several cases worth of soft drink cans placed at random at one end of the street, the kids lined up at the other end and raced down and grabbed as many cans as they could and ran back. They could keep what they could carry—no bags allowed!
That was the last of the downtown Forth of July events. There was a baseball game later, but we didn't attend. There were no fireworks...with no night in July, what could you see? They save their big fireworks displays for New Years.
There were bicycle races for kids which were one lap sprints around the block for various age groups— the winner got $5, everyone got a quarter. There had been an egg and spoon race before we arrived. We could tell by the broken eggs all over the street. After the bike races, there was a pie eating contest for kid's under 11. The pies were full size pie tins filled with chocolate pudding which had two be eaten with no hands...many chocolate-covered faces were to be seen. The final event was a "pop scramble" where they set up several cases worth of soft drink cans placed at random at one end of the street, the kids lined up at the other end and raced down and grabbed as many cans as they could and ran back. They could keep what they could carry—no bags allowed!
That was the last of the downtown Forth of July events. There was a baseball game later, but we didn't attend. There were no fireworks...with no night in July, what could you see? They save their big fireworks displays for New Years.
On our way back to Speedy, we stopped at the old Nenana train station. The town is on the railroad line, but there is not enough passenger traffic to maintain a station. They just flag down the train if anyone wants to get on. The station has been preserved on the ground floor with a few interesting exhibits from the 19th century. The upper floor has been converted into a small hotel. A nice re-use of the old building.
It was back to the RV park where we set up in about the same spot as before. Shortly after we got set up Harry and Sally arrived and took the next site. We moved a picnic table in between and had our 4th of July dinner on a fine afternoon.
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