July 4th in the 49th State

         As Matt and I found out this week, Fourth of July in Alaska is a heartwarming event to witness- they take their American pride pretty seriously. On the 3rd, we were the lucky "plus one" guests of Kevin and one of his crewmates Casey for the Allen Marine holiday party, which meant:

1. Delicious free food! 
2. Free drinks! 
3. Singalong guitar music and an annoying company staff member who kept interrupting the guitar music to force everyone to participate in Ketchikan trivia!

         These are all important ingredients in any company party so obviously it was great. We had a lot of fun on the actual fourth this year because the Lumberjack Show put on the Ironjack Competition, the annual timber athlete state championship. It is free admission for members of the community, AND they served beer so obviously every seat in the stadium was full. Matt and Kevin had a great time watching it and I had a great time basking in the honor and glory of timing the events. You're officially important when you get to know who won each event before anyone else does- I got to find out even before the athletes did!

Two of the lumberjacks competing in the single-buck saw event

       Another fun part of the 4th was getting to see my cousins, the Lotts! They just so happened to be coming into town on a cruise and it was very fun getting to catch up with them over some good eats.

Chris, Allison and me at Annabelle's

          Ketchikan hasn't had fireworks in three years on our national holiday because of the torrential downpour of rain they always get on the fourth. Luckily for us, it was a dry day and night and we witnessed some great 'works from the city as well as a firework-off between a few of the boats on the water.

Kevin wouldn't let me tag him in this on facebook so I had to sneak it into my blog instead

         Other than a fun fourth, Matt and I have been working hard and have been wavering over some pretty big purchases- we almost went to the movies last night and I caved and bought chocolate today after a tiring day at work. We're saving up for tours and trips so we can have some serious fun on our days off and at the end of the work season, where we're planning on taking a week or two to visit some other parts of Alaska. In the mean time, we're taking it easy while reading and brushing up on our culinary skills. Much love to our friends in the lower 48!

More soon,

Bridget