4TH OF JULY IN STATE COLLEGE

Carol drove to Seven Mountains Thursday after work. On Friday we went down to Tom and Ann's for a celebration of the day. Carol didn't arrive until late Thur evening so we missed Friday morning's bike parade.



We got there just as Casey was starting work on her Tie-Dye shirts, socks and baby clothes for the upcoming sidewalk sale. More about it in a later blog. Carol went into "bus man's holiday"mode and worked with Casey. Also with Sarah, who was making Pet Rocks for the sale.



Then she took Casey, Sarah AND Ben to the park to see the playground and pick black raspberries. When they returned, she and I went for a ride around campus and downtown.

Back to the house for a wonderful picnic. Then we left early to go see the stuff at 4th Fest. There was music, food, animals, dancing, lots of fun stuff to do while waiting for the fireworks. Which are spectacular. I don't know what the average is for some of the other displays around the country, but I remember three or four rockets, then a short pause of a few seconds, then a couple more. THIS one is 45 minutes of 4 per second, then the finale of 49 per second -YES, PER SECOND. Here is a YouTube video of the last regular segment and then the finale. This guy was sitting near us. The sound on the video is poor. What we - and he - didn't know is that it was being broadcast on a local FM station so we were supposed to bring a boom box. Because all the fireworks are choreographed to the music. We were completely out of breath when it ended.

Saturday we went on a 2 hr ride on the Honda through some of the prettiest country in the East.



Remember - if you click on the picture, you'll go to a large version.

Over Pine Grove Mountain into "Happy Valley"



Saturday afternoon the family came up to Seven Mountains Campground for the picnic hosted by the owners. They had bar-b-que pork, ribs and chicken catered and everyone brought something. WAY too much food !

Too short a visit - Carol and I went down the mountain Sunday morning for Church and to say her Good By's to everyone. Then she drove back to Salem. Uneventful except for the thunderstorms. She pulled into a rest area, called me and said, "Look at the weather radar, please. How much of this stuff is there and when will it be out of my way?" I was able to give her good news, "Wait about another 15 minutes and it will all move east of I-81." She did. And it did.

The trailer sure seems empty. I'm making plans to return to Salem at the end of the month.