2 July 2006 Big Lake

On Sunday afternoon the sailing club took up a collection for fireworks. The only town, and four stands, that sell fireworks in southcentral Alaska are less than 10 miles away. Fireworks on the 4th of July really don't have much oomph in a place where the sun just barely sets behind the horizon from about midnight to 4:00 am. But the skies cooperated this evening when heavy clouds moved across the sky, blocking the sun. The kids, with some adult supervision, set up the fireworks on a gravel pad just off the end of the dock. Most of us sat around the campfire a hundred feet away and oohed and ahhed as the colors burst against the backdrop of gray clouds. The fireworks show lasted about 20 minutes.

And then the sun dropped below the clouds and gave us its rendition of 4th of July fireworks.