Luck was with us and the weather was dry and warm with partial sunshine for the Anchorage 4th July celebration. We headed downtown to the six level parking garage that is connected to the 5th Avenue mall via a sky-bridge. If you park on level 4 you can walk over to the mall without using the elevator or stairs.

Sky-Bridge to mall

We could not resist going to the top of the garage to view the city and take some photos. We noticed that one of the roofs still had some snow cover and can only guess that building must house a huge cold room.

Snow on the roof - this is July

We made our way over to the 4th of July Celebration at Delaney Park. Delaney Park is ideal for this type of event as it is 14 blocks long and one block wide. See Google Map reference.

https://www.google.com/maps/@61.2120057,-149.8986009,15.5z?hl=en

The park grounds were filled with rides, vendors, and a stage with entertainment. If you are so inclined you can actually watch the parade twice by viewing from the starting point and then moving across the grounds to the other side and catch the beginning of the parade again.

Carnival atmosphere at the park

We are sure this is the first parade we have every seen with a raindeer as a participant.

Raindeer does not seem happy

There was a procession of restored WWII vehicles used during the construction of the Alaska Highway.

Restored WWII vehicles

As we sat waiting on the parade to start a little girl next to us was overwhelmed with my good looks. Ok, maybe it was my camera she was attracted to. We could not resist taking her photo.

When the parade ended we walked around the grounds taking in the sights and sounds. Pam just had to have a photo of her riding a moose.

Rovin, rovin, rovin, moosehide

We have never seen one of the attractions for children we found walking the grounds. Not knowing the actual name for this we call it "kids in a ball". Children are placed inside a large plastic ball and then float in a pool of water.

Kids in a ball

Video of kids playing inside a ball

Video showing entering and exiting the ball

As we were headed back to the car Pam informed me that she saw a pizza place on 5th avenue we should have lunch at. Who am I to resist the wishes of my wife! The pizza was outstanding, especially the crust, and a neat theme was brown wrapping paper as a table cloth. Each table had a small container of crayons for children of all ages to demonstrate their artistic talents.

Where we had pizza

Pam with crayon in hand

This morning is moving day and we are off to Homer, a town literally at the end of the road. Homer is located at the terminus of the road system on the Kenai Peninsular. Our friends are also headed to Homer from Seward today so it will be fun to share laughs and stories with them.