Hehehe.
No, really, folks -- we in the Northwest have already had our cookout, our massive amounts of alcholic beverages, and even the obligatory fireworks show. Pretty cool, huh?? :o)
I don't know WHY they do this, maybe it has to do with the fact that this town was settled by Norwegians, but the town celebrates on the 3rd of July.
Maybe no one's told them the real holiday is the Fourth.
Today T came over to my house rather randomly as I was trying this recipe my sister gave me called Italian Tuna-Beans (it tastes better than it sounds), and asked if I wanted to go down to the Third of July festivities in historic downtown. I said, sure! -- being social with the neighbors is a good idea. Besides, I really like T, and now that I'm getting to know her husband and knowing that I have to give as nasty as he gives, I'm enjoying him more too. Plus her daughter is too cute.
So we went down to historic downtown where T's husband S got into a cussing match with a retard down by the port. See, our town has a port where people live on their houseboats, and the folks who live on the boats have parking passes for a few of the spots in that lot. However, this woman stood in a parking spot that wasn't marked as only for residents of the port to wait for her friend because they had to unload their boat. If it had been a permit-only spot, we wouldn't have cared, but it was an unmarked spot and therefore open to whomever wanted to park there, not just port residents. Especially today, where everyone and their uncle was trying to park downtown. It was pretty amusing to see S try to rip her a new one, but she was just too stupid to get it.
Finally S just let us off and found another spot not too far away, and we walked around the fair. There's not a whole lot down there, probably about twenty booths, if that. And the booths are either food booths or military recruiting. I kept asking T if she wanted to join the Naval Reserve (the Navy wasn't there!!! I guess they're all out to sea), and she kept saying no. She's no fun. :o) I had a gyro to snack on, and I contemplated the funnel cakes but never got around to them. I really wanted a ice cream cone because I have a major weakness for waffle cones. They had food-eating contests and stuff down there too, so we watched the kids compete in an ice cream eating contest, which was pretty funny.
We ended up walking around on the floating piers for the houseboats, and I think a couple of people got snippy that we were walking around there when we didn't live there. I figure it's like walking around on the sidewalks in a neighborhood -- what's the difference?? You should have seen those boats, though!! Huge, and so luxurious!! I think it was more that these people didn't want to associate with the "commoners."
We went into some of the shops down there, and it reminded me so much of downtown Williamsburg. They've got some really cool stuff down there and I really could have done some damage to my checkbook, but common sense prevailed. I'm so proud of myself.
And the weather was so nice!! It was in the 70s here, with a cool breeze coming through, so I was quite comfortable in my jeans and t-shirt. So different from last Fourth of July at my mother's house, where the temps were in the 90s and it felt like the low 100s. I spent the afternoon drenched in my own sweat -- I didn't know I had that much water in my body to come out!!!
Having seen all we could of the fair and the downtown shops, we headed back home where S grilled up some HUGE hamburgers, accompanied by macaroni salad and potato salad. Yum!! The only thing we didn't have was corn on the cob. Oh well. Of course, there was alcohol a-plenty, beer for S, wine coolers for T, and the end of Michele's Orange Hooch for me. Although I think I left one bottle in their fridge, so I had three. And didn't even get tipsy. Oh that was frustrating! :o) S kept setting off bottle rockets off his back deck, which are completely legal because not only can we buy a whole crapload of illegal fireworks on the reservation, we can also set them off in our yards since we live on said reservation.
Then around 9:30-ish we headed back downtown to see the fireworks. We're so far north that it was just beginning to get dark at that time, which has been really hard for me to get used to. We found a good parking spot, and a really comfy place on the grass to sit in front of one of the local grocery stores. It was on a pretty steep hill, so when you sat down, your legs hung over the edge rather comfortably, almost like you were in a recliner. The kids amused themselves with sliding down the hill on their butts, and at one point I found myself sliding down the hill unintentionally. And it was FUN!!! I went down the hill probably ten times. This is what comes from not being able to sled down hills when you're a child. I never went sledding. Well, I went once, but that was a fluke. In Virginia, we just don't get snow, and when we lived in Illinois and Nebraska, it didn't occur to my parents to take us out sledding. We were pretty much left to our devices as kids.
The fireworks were pretty good for such a small town, although we had a great view of some trees in our very comfy spot, so we quickly abandoneed it to stand in a nearby parking lot. At least we had a good view from there. :o)
So I've had my alchohol, participated in backyard firecrackers, eaten my hamburgers and potato salad, gone to the fair, and seen the town's fireworks display. What's left for the REAL Fourth of July???