4th of July Festivities

Typically, our 4th of July is spent as many other weekends during the summer; hanging out at Dave's grandma's house in Bellevue, lounging near the lake, barbecuing and hanging out with family. 

This year provided a change of plans - and scenery.

My sister, Kali, invited us over to a barbecue at her neighbor's house in Coupeville.  Seeing how we have not yet been over to the island, we took her up on the offer.  We soon came to find that my entire family (minus David in UT & Brent) woul be in attendance, as well.

The island I speak of is Whidbey Island, which can be reached most quickly by ferry.  Unfortunately, holiday time means long waits at the ferry terminal; this year, the news stations were predicting 2-3 hour waits in those lines.  

Fortunately, you can also get to the island by driving - it just takes a while.  But, with those lengthy delays, we thought we'd take our chances and do the drive, taking in all of that beautiful Western Washinton scenery.

We took off from Everett around 3pm (and a hot 87F), driving through scenic Snohomish and Island counties.  Turning onto Highway 20, we passed the dried tulip fields, Fidalgo Bay and deftly edged across the lofty Deception Pass bridge.  We soon discovered that Whidbey Island is a beautiful place filled with rolling fields, tall trees and sweeping views of the Puget Sound.  Eventually, we came to the quaint town of Coupeville and rolled into the party location after about a 90-minute drive - and a much cooler 70F!

We arrived just in time for the hot dogs and hamburgers to slide off the barbecue and onto people's plates.   Feasting on pasta salad, baked beans, red potato salad and fresh fruit, we were soon filled and found a nice place to rest (and recuperate from our food coma) in the afternoon sun.  The kids ran wild on the large piece of property that edged the Puget Sound; activities included two pools, volleyball, soccer, horseshoes, water balloons and a pie eating (fight) contest.

After a few hours, we had to head for home as Dave had a Sunday School lesson to prepare and we needed to get up for 9am church in the morning.  We opted for the ferry this time - we knew that it would be much less crowded with most folks in their prime firework-viewing locations.  Sure enough, we practically drove right on to the ferry with no wait and were home in less than an hour.

Dave pulled out his lesson and I turned on the TV to the local fireworks display.  As tradition held true, our part of town was lit up with large mortars, Roman candles, bottle rockets and lots of smoke - intermittently, between the bursts and explosions, you could hear the local fire engine's siren sound and they'd take off to put out another 4th of July oops.  This little "show" went on from the time we got home until the wee hours of the morning.  

Oh, the beauty & serenity of the rocket's red glare.  It was a beautiful day and a nice time spent with the family.

Happy (Belated) Independence Day to All!