"Don't worry, we will burn something"

This is what Mel told me after our search for fourth of July fireworks came up empty handed.

I was sure I was going to be homesick on the 4th.  It's no surpirse that it's my favorite holiday!!  And I was already recieving emails titled "4th of July weekend" explaining all the fun things that would be going on without me at home.  I am in a group of Australians, and one Turkish man.  Turkish people are very proud of their country, flags are all over the place.  Whereas the Australians find this alien, as they have laws restricting them on how many flags can be in a certain area at a certain time, it reminds me of how proud Americans are, with flags all around, in shops, on cars, etc.  The entire time I was planning this trip, I was debating if I really wanted to miss the 4th of July.  I was sure my family would be on the beach, along with a million other people.  Dad would have PB&J's, Cheez itz, and frozen water bottles, so that you would be so thirsty all day but your assigned bottle would at least last the entire day.  The girls at work would be busy decorating themselves in red, white, and blue all day and night, and they would try to catch the fireworks on the beach from the Rudder office.  Flags and bunting would be everywhere you look.  And people that I haven't seen in the midst of our busy schedules, would flood to the beach, and we would be able to do quick beer shooters in celebration of America's birthday.

Today, the only spirit I had was a freebee flag some bank had given out, and a ribbon (duh).  I already told the Aussie's to get ready, and they were good sports, but they were lacking the enthusiasm and patriotism from home.

Today's agenda included sea kayaking over a sunken city.  Other American's were in our tour group.  Things were already looking up.  We kayaked to a little cove and heard the history and saw some ruins, then continued over the sunken city.  "It's not Atlantis.  Don't expect that", our guide told us.  We also had to keep moving the entire time.  The city has not been touched by archeologists, and it's illegal to snorkel or scuba dive there.  So, when the kayak of two Koreans knocked into and flipped over Mel's kayak, and he lost his designer sunglasses, they were goners, maybe to one day be found.  The sunken city had a lot of Greek influences (you can see a Greek island from Kas, they apparently have had a lot of influence on each other's architecture and foods, etc)  It was destroyed by an earthquake.  You can see on the island (that used to be a penninsula) where the buildings, etc were, and then they just ended, and you could see the other parts of those buildings in the waters below you.  This was an Lycian City (even though it was a 3 hour bus ride from our previous Lycian trail hiking spot).  The litte island that we stopped for at lunch was beautiful and had a castle on the top of the hill that previously was used as a look-out spot.  The two American girls and I were excited to have pasta salad on the lunch spread.  We looked for burgers and hotdogs, but there were a no-go. 

An old turkish lady trying to sell you things while swimming!

Swimming at some ruins

Get to work Marnie!!!

The other American's were a family from CA that did a house-swap with a Turkish family (I thought that only happened in the movies...??)  The dad had a solo kayak, and the mom and daughter were in one together.  American dad (As I took to calling him on this day)  was not very coordinated from the start, barely fitting into his kayak, and struggling in and out when he was still on land.  You can only imagine him in the water!!!  The first time he tipped out, mom and daughter were joking with me, saying they automatically clung togeher from the start, knowing he was going to be bad news, and giggling, and pretending not to know him when the group did have to wait for him to get in and settled again before moving on.  He had a good attitude about it, but he eventually did just come back to port in the little tug boat that had been following us around.  That was best for us all!!


Marnie and I lounged after lunch, finding shaded benches and just enjoyed the view before kayaking back to our launch spot, and riding in the big jeep back to town.  We then went down to the beach for drinks and lounging in chairs by the beach bar before heading to dinner.  After dinner, we went to a bar that Mel had pre-arranged with the owner that they would have sparklers for us.  So, there were still some sparkly celebrations after all!!!  We then enjoyed a couple drinks on our roof-top veranda before calling it a night.  All in all, this independence day was not a bust, and I was glad that I had others around to help me celebrate!  However, I'm still thinking a "4th of August...Everyday is Independence Day" BBQ is in order for when I arrive home!!

Shots at Queen Bar

Sparklers for Independence Day!!! :)