July 4 in Redmond

We celebrated our first Fourth of July in Redmond by watching the parade (themed "Baseball, Hot Dogs and Apple Pie") and viewing the fireworks.  The parade had more vintage cars than I've ever seen in a parade and there were lots of other things too--75 or more entries.

In 1991 Redmond was officially recognized as a "Flag City, USA" community and more than 1,000 4x6 flags line several streets.  Various organizations have responsibility for putting them up and taking them down on seven different occasions each year.   We got with the program and lined the front portion of our lawn with flags and we'll probably add more down the side next year.

The fireworks show was very good with a lot of variety in the display that lasted 20 minutes.  But leaving the fairgrounds was a snarl of traffic requiring 30 minutes of time from pulling on to the street to reaching the exit (which was probably a quarter mile distance).  We'll have to come up with a better viewing plan--or maybe just plan to spend the night at the fairgrounds.  ha  There was one other snafu behind us when some bushes caught on fire by individuals lighting their own fireworks.  Fortunately several guys kicking dirt onto the flames took care of it pretty quickly and disaster was averted.  Whew!

And that was our first Fourth of July in Redmond.