What a fabulous weekend I've just had! How about you? Every year I so look forward to the 4th of July, and I have my dear friend Stephanie to thank for that. Celebrating the 4th as a child in Iowa City's City Park is a tough act to follow, but I dare say my now grow-up ritual of spending it at Stephanie's is making it just as special.
Ahhh, City Park. Every year we'd head down to the park early in the day, armed with our blankets, chairs, snacks, sparklers, and OF COURSE a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, complete with the cole slaw and potato salad that simply MUST accompany. We'd usually spend the day with friends and neighbors, camped out on the grass playing on the equipment, tossing frisbees, riding rides (they actually had some rides at the park then...ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and the like) and swimming in the city pool for hours. As it started to get dark we'd pack up and make our way to the field with everyone else to get ready for the fireworks show. Sometimes my sisters would bring their boyfriends. I lit sparklers every year even though they secretly really scared me. I remember never wanting the fireworks show to end. I never wanted the DAY to end! Even the random soul-shaking BOOMS that would erupt out of nowhere throughout the day giving me a small heart attack each time couldn't have kept me away.
Even though Coreman's always been a trooper about doing the whole fireworks thing no matter where we've been over various 4ths, I have to say nothing has ever
compared to me to grand ol' City Park. Not until we started going to Steph's, that is. It's been about 4 years now, and it's always a blast. The kids swim in the pool, we eat amazing food (MUCH better than KFC, I dare say) enjoy wonderful company and see a great fireworks show. It's cozy, relaxed and fun--and should make my own kids some great memories of their own. Thank you once again, Stephanie and John!
Today, we needed to work off all of that wonderful 4th of July food. It was gorgeous outside and the Coreman and I felt like we wanted to explore some new territory. We ventured out to the Taylors Falls area and found a great trail and oh-so-prehistoric area called the Potholes. 
These holes are perfectly round channels into what used to be lava that is now solid rock--pretty darn cool. In the bottom of most of the holes is standing water...one sign mentioned that they don't even know how deep some of them go. Oooh, spooky. How very Journey-to-the-Center-of-the-Earth! After pondering these we walked a huge circle of a trail--all in all, I think we did about 3.5 miles. Cool rocky terrain, amazing vista views of the river, Lord of the Rings-type woods. Fabulous!
I hope you yourself made some new memories this holiday weekend!!! Now, back to the....grind?! Yay summer!!
That sounds cool, lady! Good to hear you had all such a nice weekend
))
A pity I can't see the photos in their original size...
Greetings from NL,
Rob