Celebrate! Parades and Fireworks

July 4th in South Salt Lake in the early 70's meant a kid's parade, with fun games, snow cones and cotton candy at the Madison School afterward with Grandpa and Grandma South. One year, Grandpa boosted his grandkids, Todd and Jennifer, atop an old fire engine to ride through the parade. I had made costumes for them--Todd as George Washington and Jenn as Betsy Ross. The cute factor was very high that day! When Grandpa finished showing them off, Grandma was in charge of games and treats. She loved that as much as the kids did!

One 4th of July, I took my kids to see fireworks at UNR's football stadium. It was a great show but as we tried to leave, half of the exit gate closed on the crowd. It became a scary situation as I tried to hang onto Jenn and keep us both from being trampled or crushed. Todd had made it out ahead of us, on his own. I've been wary of large crowds ever since.

When at last, I broke through traffic gridlock and was driving home from a 4th celebration on another occasion, I saw smoke rising in the sky some distance ahead of us. Continuing to watch that plume as we drove, I couldn't place its location. I drove out of Reno and into Sparks, with smoke still rising ahead of us. Closer to home. "The fire must be on the East side of Sparks," I reasoned. Another mile or so. "Could be in the dry hills just beyond our neighborhood."  I turned off Baring, 'rounded the last corner onto Waterfield. The smoke ... The fire ... looks like ... Could be ... OUR HOUSE! No flames were visible at the front. Todd was out of the car before it completely stopped, with his key in the front door in a flash, running straight through to the back door before I could stop him. Across the back lawn and up over the back fence he went, like someone running hurdles, tearing towards Shadow Mountain, behind our house, towards the flames and smoke. Hot embers were now swirling low in the sky around the house. With Jenn on a ladder, hose in hand and sobbing, flames coming up over the hill and burning toward my back fence, Todd cleared the fence again, grabbed a rake and started clearing dry stuff along the fence. It would have made little difference had the flames reached the fence--chain link but with wooden slats all across it. Flames jumped two service roads encircling that hill, stopping short of our fence. We kept spraying water all the while, wetting down the roof, the house, the yard. Neighbors had congregated by now, thinking it was our house in flames. Seeing those firetrucks lined up on the hill, silhouetted against the night sky, was a welcome sight. We've come to expect a July 4th fire of some sort on this hill, sometimes sparked by bikers riding through dry cheetgrass or fools who think the 'No Fireworks' rules are for somebody else. There have been a few, but none as dramatic as the first, thankfully.

I saw our neighborhood empty out for holiday weekends, almost everyone in some sort of 4-wheel drive something.  I decided we should not be the only ones left at home. Todd and Jenn helped load up the Datsun, including Digit, our getting-bigger-all-the-time Golden Retriever. I headed for Lake Tahoe, my first trip up the mountain on my own. We explored a couple of areas that we could get to without paying money. Climbing rocks at one location, the 'nuddie' beach came into view. That was a sightseeing extra we hadn't planned! I heard from others that there would be fireworks around the Lake come sunset and decided to stay. They were beautiful. Back in the car, I drove around a bit. I didn't know the area in the daytime and I sure didn't know how to get off the mountain in the dark safely amidst traffic jams and rowdy crowds of people. Digit had loved playing all day, occasionally being tied to a prominent "No Dogs Allowed" sign with plenty of leash to still roam a bit. He didn't much like being confined again in our small car. I parked behind a building in an otherwise almost empty parking lot. I had no money for a motel, even if I could have found lodging for the night. Todd called the passenger seat and moved it back as far as it would go to accomodate his growing legs, then laid the back of the seat down. Jenn thought she could still stretch out on the back seat and put the dog on the floor.  Instead, she and Digit wrestled for space. I sat straight up, hands still on the steering wheel keeping watch, I thought.  Sometime during the night, I must have dozed off and was awakened by a scream. Evidently, I had parked behind a bar. Some drunk tried to peer through the fogged up window and came face to face with Digit's face, nose, full smile showing all his teeth, pressed against the glass!  That beastly vision must have sobered the guy up in a hurry!

Regular trips to see Lake Tahoe fireworks began while Jenn lived at the Lake. I drove there with my grandkids--four babies, a 4-year old, a 2-year old, and toddler twins about 17 months old. They were so cute enjoying the sand and water but were fearless.  It took three adults to manage that bunch! When Jenn rented an apartment on King's Beach, above a wonderful bakery, across from Steamers Pizza, I made the trek again, this time to spend the night.  After that, I rented a motel for several years and spent a night or two at King's Beach, taking in the annual arts and craft fair, discovering kid-friendly Mexican food and black beans I loved, and of course, watching fireworks sitting on the beach. Fun, a lot of work, but a fun tradition. The first year, I cooked for a week before and packed most of the house up to make the trip. As the kids got older and I grew wiser, I found other ways to do it.

I loved the Lake Tahoe projects. I hope the kids remember them as fun, too. One year, I provided stuff to paint their own beach hats. Then it was sun pictures and treasure hunts, walks and critter catching. The first year, I dressed the kids in matching outfits including stars and stripes shorts. I only got away with that for a season or two when they were too small to protest.  After that it was a requirement to have matching 4th of July T-shirts for all of us. The pictures of our arrivals at the beach each year still make me laugh. I insisted on a photo op, different poses, different spots along the beach. We had to stop most years going or coming home to take a group picture with the tall, wood-carved bear, his paw in the air in a welcoming gesture. When Tom joined Jenn and I and the kids, I'm not sure he knew what he was getting into but he was a good sport. Even on vacation at such a beautiful place in the world, kids can still be a real pain in the butt, at times! Tom took it all in stride.

Early mornings were my favorite during our stays at Tahoe. With a warm strawberry-filled croissant in my hand, an old log to sit on, sand just warming up on my bare toes, the air still a bit crisp from the night just passed, and hardly a ripple on the water, I loved to watch workers on the barge set up or take down the fireworks rigging. It was so sad the year I had to canceled the plans we had made a year in advance. I had been phased out of my job at UNR and felt the need to 'circle the wagons' to prepare for whatever came next, reserving and reclaiming every penny I could. I haven't been able to re-orchestrate our annual trek again, in quite the same way. Things change. A more recent and fun way to see Tahoe fireworks happened with no pre-planning, whatsoever.  Walking through Target with Jenn's family and the four, Jenn said, "Let's go!"  "Now?"  "We can just make it!"  We all piled into the Excursion and despite heavy construction almost all the way, arrived with time to share a pizza sitting outside on Steamer's patio not far from the sands of our much loved and familiar space on the beach! Great fireworks! Hot chocolate to warm up a bit and yummy frozen yogurt, just because!

Fourth of July and family traditions. They're a part of who I am.