A Rainy Fourth

We got up on the 4th of July and it was dumping rain.  Of course it was! We made mom and dad go out in the rain anyway and check out Anchorage's annual 4th of July parade. 

We got downtown about an hour before the parade was scheduled to start because we were worried we wouldn't find a spot to stand, and there was no one there. I forgot everyone was going to be in Seward watching the Mount Marathon race.  Next year we'll have to join them! 

Here's Ripley posing in front of my office building.  Every single person at the parade thought his t-shirt was some kind of patriotic nod to the holiday.  Also, people LOVE a dog in human clothes. Single people: if you're looking for love, just get a dog and put some clothes on it.  90% of people you encounter on the street (male, female, young and old) will want to talk to you.  You now have an instant icebreaker with strangers.  You're welcome.  

The park blocks, which used to be Anchorage's airport way back when, was full of blow up creepy things.

Clown.  Pretty sure it's Pennywise.

Uncle Sam looks a little over-inflated if you ask me.  Also, one-legged. 

Lady liberty and a blue gorilla.  Makes sense. 

The rain got pretty bad while we waited for the parade, so we found a tent and began to gorge ourselves.

Not pictured: Me eating empanadas and piroshki, dad eating breakfast burritos and reindeer sausage, Andy eating BBQ, Ripley drooling on everything.

The food was definitely the highlight.  I loved everything I ate.  I also loved this dude's corn hat.

We finished eating and headed to the street to grab a parade spot.  We cozied up to a building and had a little shelter and an elevated viewpoint.  Score!

Standing around is not Ripley's favorite.  Also, I just noticed that he IS red white and blue.  Totally intentional. 

 Andy wants to show you how the cool kids wear their rain gear.

Finally the parade started!

There were floats (all featuring umbrellas)...

And Star the Reindeer was there! Celebrity ungulate!

Oddly costumed people on bikes:

Horses...

An old ALCAN Highway patrol car, which was actually really cool to see...

A pug riding shotgun in a semi truck...

Bagpipes!

Seniors playing accordions:

Shriners!

And convertibles carrying beauty queens.

It was a nice little parade! Definitely classic America.  We had a nice holiday, even if the weather was horrible.  They do fireworks in Anchorage, but not until midnight and we're all too old to stay up that late, so we settled for watching some on TV after dinner.  Hope you all had a happy (dry) 4th!