Is this week been a blur to anyone else?  We’ve been busy getting back into the normal routine after my sister and brother-in-law headed home and catching up on things that fell to the wayside while they were here.  We’re also making progress on the new deck out back and the cedar soaking tub that will go on it!  I’ll be sharing all of that once we get closer to the finish line.

In the meantime I’ve got a couple of things we did while my sister was here to share.  Today that’s our visit to Glacier View for their annual 4th of July celebration which includes launching cars off a cliff!  It’s definitely a unique way to mark the occasion, but when you live in the land of midnight sun fireworks don’t quite have the same effect so this is a good way to get some oooohhh’s and aaahhh’s from a crowd instead.  All of the vehicles used are donated and typically on their last legs so this is their last hoorah before they head to the scrap pile.  I guess it’s a unique form of combining recycling and entertainment!

The event takes place on private property owned by a guiding company which does have a view of the glacier, although from the spot along the river we claimed for the show it’s only a small view.  I’m sure it’s much more impressive from the top of the cliff where the cars launched from.  But it was pretty along the river, so my sister and I explored a bit while we waited for the show to start.

There were lots of big pieces of driftwood along the banks, showing just how powerful the river can be.  In fact this same river has claimed several houses down river after swelling from spring rains and snow thaw.

We found a few interesting items tangled up in the driftwood like this paddle, likely lost from one of the many rafting tours that go down this stretch of the river.

My sister was in awe of the scenery and took numerous photos so I took of few of her in action. 🙂  We also spotted these strange flowers growing near the river.  I’ve never seen anything like them before.  They look like something right out of a Dr. Seuss story!

When the show was about to start the organizers started to move the vehicles that would be launched off the cliff toward to top.  This snow machine was a last minute entry and the first they’d ever had.  Since there was no snow to be had at this time of year, they strapped it to the top of a side-by-side for it’s journey to the cliff side.

As they got the cars ready up top we watched a few more folks take a trip down the zip line that spans over the area where the crowd had gathered.  My sister and I considered trying it out but we ran out of time after the show as we had to pick up some 4-wheelers we were borrowing from friends for another adventure.  I’ll share about that tomorrow!

Finally we were ready for the main event and it didn’t disappoint. First up was a little Subaru painted like Lighting McQueen.  It got pretty good air off the cliff and landed on target near a pond at the bottom.

Next up was the snow machine, which gave a stunning launch with a dust trail as it left the cliff.  It flipped after impact giving a unique perspective.  It was a great first entry in the ‘lightweight’ division as they called it!

The third vehicle was another coup which had apparently been named Felica according to the roof’s paint job…

That was followed by a star spangled van, which turned out to be a dud.  It konked out before it had enough steam to make it off the ramp and rolled back into the trees.  They got it running again later and did launch it but forgot to warn the crowd so we could watch and I missed seeing it land.

There was also a full-size truck in the line-up that gave a pretty good performance with high air and a decent soar before it nose-dived and flipped on landing.

My favorite of the day was the old police patrol car.  It looked like a scene right out of Dukes of Hazard and I kept hearing “Just some good ‘ole boys…” play in my head as I watched it descend.  It gave a magnificent belly-flop at the end just as if it was Boss Hog himself driving!

I applaud the organizers and the community for a great down-home event.  We were told that it’s grown every year since it began and this year was the biggest they’ve ever had.  In fact they had sold out of food tickets when we arrived at lunch time so we hit the food truck and managed to get the last few slices of pizza they had!  We had a great time watching the show and plan to return next year now that we know what to expect and what to bring.  If you’d like to see more photos and videos of the action visit the event’s Facebook page here.