After years of CA bay area living, attending the local Corvallis parade on the 4th was a lesson in small town living. Parking? You mean, near the actual parade route? And space to stand - wait, actually sit and still have a great view? We arrived about 15 minutes before the start of the parade and not only were we happy to find lots of available sidewalk space, we were even happier to discover that the space did not continue to shrink around us as more folks came by. Of course, once the "anyone can join in" parade started, we realized why there was so much room for observers; it looked like half the town was participating! It was fabulous to see so many kids and adults riding their bicycles, dragging wagons, pushing strollers and walking in the parade. It was such a casual event, with even the parade route open to traffic until just before it started. The kids in the parade threw candy, bewildering Joshua who wanted no part in darting out to the street to collect it, which in turn drove the nearby candy-scavengers to a frenzy. We managed to swipe a couple tootsie rolls and smarties that came our way, and the looks the other kids gave us! It's like they knew our son had no interest in that candy at all and we were just taking it for ourselves.
How did they know that?
The best thing we saw, though, had to the be the biggest bicycle (quadcycle, really!) I've ever seen, most likely made in honor of the upcoming da Vinci Days. It was pedaled by 5 people and had four wheels, so the question is, what is it called?
That night we got to experience another unusual occurrence for us former bay area folk: legal fireworks. Remember that part of our apartment complex, the cul-de-sac directly behind our bedroom windows designated as a smoking area? Turns out it also doubles as the prime location to set off fireworks, bags and bags of them. At one point we peeked out and it looked like a field of soldiers, varying in height and scattered over the entire area.
No comments:
Post a Comment