Kenai Week 2 (cont'd)

We are leaving Kenai today for Seward so I decided I'd better get up early and get this one completed!

We did manage to get to another Oilers baseball game.  It was on Friday night and this time we wore our winter coats.  The game went 13 innings and this time we stayed until the end - Oilers lost.  The local brewery - Kassik Brewing was serving beer and that was good.

We got back to the school, watched a little TV, and before we went to bed (11:30 PM), I went outside and took this picture of the sun setting in the west:

And it doesn't get much darker after that!!

We did some more sightseeing on Sunday after church.  Kenai Landing is considered the mouth of the Kenai River.  Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of two different groups of people using the available resources of this region as early as 1,000 B.C. - the Riverine Kachemak people (1000 B.C. to A.D. 1000) and the Late Prehistoric Dena'ina (A.D. 1000 to European contact.  Two sizable native villages existed here until a cannery was built at the mouth of the Kenai River in 1882 and people moved to that site.    Libby, McNeill & Libby built their fish cannery on this site in 1912.  Records show that they shipped 36,000 cases of salmon that first year and was immensely profitable for many years.  Fish traps were used extensively, and, when Alaska became a state in 1959, one of the first acts the AK State Legislature did was to outlaw fish traps.  Following that law, Libby sold its AK canneries because they feared that new regulations would render their operations unprofitable.

Anyway, there are a number of buildings left.  Some of the buildings that housed the workers have been converted to a hotel.  This was the main building where the canning took place.

Found a small Japanese cemetary with some gravesites of those who worked at the cannery. 

Hope you had a HAPPY 4th:

We went to the local parade.  A beautiful sunny 60 degree day!! 

There were alot of people lined up and down the street.

The guy in the red t-shirt was wearing shorts and is obviously a local - they wear summer clothes here whenever they can, regardless of the temperature!  Under my coat, I wore a sweatshirt!!

Smokey the Bear made an appearance.

There were alot of motorcycles in the parade as well as old cars.

This one was really nice.

This is an old Farmall (series H) from 1951.  I can remember using one of these when I helped my uncle on the farm.

This was the theme of the parade.

Nice '57 Chevy.

The Oilers' mascot, Scoop, and the team were there.

An old 50's Hudson:

And, bringing up the rear - horses of course.  Notice the guy with the shovel behind them - I don't know what he planned to do with whatever he had to scoop up!!

Since we have been camped here at the school, there has been NO end to the number of 'float' planes that fly over us.  In the morning they are headed east, and in the evening, they come back.  I guess they are taking people fishing, on tours, etc. 

Next stop - Seward!