Fourth of July Pool Party and Fireworks (Wednesday, July 4th, 2018)

When we finished at the races, we headed over to Brad and Andrea's house for a pool party and fireworks.  They have the perfect yard for entertaining, and especially on the fourth of July!  They have a perfect view of the lake where the fireworks are shot.

We had so much fun at Brad and Andrea's house.  We met some new friends, enjoyed some great food, and beautiful pool and great fourth of July fireworks. 

Pyros in Paradise (Friday, February 12th and Saturday, February 13th, 2016)

The Western Pyrotechnics Association is in town, and with that comes a great fireworks show. They are here in Lake Havasu every year for Presidents Day Weekend, and attract huge crowds for the three day event. They set up in Sara Park, on the south side of town, in the Havasu 95 Speedway infield. Parking for the event is $5.00 per car, which we heard goes directly to the club to cover their expenses, and gate entrance is $5.00 per person. They sell food and drinks inside, which includes local craft beer from Mudsharks, which is $4.00 a pint.

On Friday night, we headed down to the speedway with Steve’s brother and his wife, to watch the fireworks show. We stopped and picked up Subway sandwiches on the way, and brought a cooler of beer and water to go along with our dinner. When we hit the highway on the south side of town, we couldn’t believe the traffic that was trying to head south on the highway. We thought they must all be trying to get to the fireworks, but it really wasn’t clear. It took us about an extra 15 minutes to reach Sara Park compared to a normal day, and when we arrived, a lot of the traffic didn’t go into Sara Park, they went further south on the highway or up into the desert.

We are arrived at the event at about 5:15, and although we thought we were early, the main parking lot was already full. We were parked about 100 yards beyond the main lot in the overflow parking. But not to worry, there was still a lot of room in overflow beyond where we were. We pulled out our lawn chairs and cooler, and made ourselves comfortable by the roller hockey rink, where we enjoyed our dinner before heading into the stands.

We headed into the stands at about 6:00, and although there were already a lot of people, there was plenty of room for the four of us. It was still about an hour and a half until the show would start, but they were doing some classes behind the raceway so periodically we would get a little teaser of what was to come. There was also a lot happening in the infield to keep us entertained. 

There is a big egg in the infield.  Not sure what that's all about

They shot this canon several times while we were waiting for the sun to go down

A beautiful Sunset through the safety fence at the racetrack

The show finally started at about 7:30, and was fun to watch. There were a lot of smaller fireworks down low in the infield in addition to the larger ones that could be seen for many miles. All of the displays were synched to music, which was really entertaining. And the announcers kept us informed on which group of pyros we were watching at any given time.

Part of the show for the Rocky Mountain Pyrotechnics.  As they played Colorado Rocky Mountain High

The egg in the infield is coming to life

This thing puts off an amazing amount of heat

To get the full effect of the show, you really have to see the video. It is just a short snippet of the entire night, but really shows what a fireworks show can be.  Steve had to change the music to keep from breaking any copyright laws, but you can still see how great the show was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvq643GShA0&feature=youtu.be

We also did a second night of fireworks from a very different perspective. When we were on our cruise in January with our youngest daughter (see our posts from January 9th-16th), we met a couple, Tim and Cheryl, that were also from Lake Havasu. They had invited us to their house for a potluck and fireworks party. So on Saturday, we headed over to their house at about 4 o’clock. They live on the south side of town, and their back yard backs up to the desert BLM land. They had a bunch of their friends over, and we had a wonderful picnic in their back yard. We met so many great people, and had time to get to know some of them pretty well before it started getting dark. 

There was so much great food to enjoy, along with the wonderful company

 When the sun started to set, we packed up our stuff and headed into the hills behind Tim and Cheryl’s house. They had three Razor dune buggies, so they took a few trips to get all of the people, chairs and coolers out into the desert. Steve and I threw our chairs and cooler on one of the razors, and then took the short hike up the hill. It was a steep but easy walk, although very dusty from all of the dune buggies and ATVs that were running around. We lined-up our chairs along one of the ridges, where we would have a great view of the fireworks. 

You can see the lights in the distance at Sara Park, We had great seats!

The Razor Brigade

A very simple sunset from our hill in the desert

It took a while for it to get dark enough for the fireworks to start, and while we were waiting, the trail behind us was very busy with vehicles heading out into the desert. Most of them were very thoughtful, and went slow past our setup, but of course, there were those few that we all know and love!

The fireworks were beautiful from the desert! We couldn’t see some of the lower displays, and of course, we were watching from further off so we couldn’t hear the music, but it was fun to hang out with a great group of people in this beautiful desert environment!

When we thought the fireworks were over, we headed back down to Tim and Cheryl's house, and to our surprise, the fireworks started up again.  So we finished watching them, as we sat by the campfire and enjoyed a beautiful night in paradise.

Back to the Cabin (July 3rd, 2015)

Two weeks till retirement! We took our oldest daughter to the airport at 2:00 this morning, and then headed back to bed for a few hours. She is heading to Georgia to see her husband. They will spend their holiday weekend in beautiful Savanna, Georgia.

The rest of us are once again heading to the Cabin. Our youngest daughter was the princess of our small cabin community during her junior year in high school (2012-2013). She received an email this week that they would like all of the former princesses to return this year for the Fourth of July celebration. She originally had plans to go camping with friends in Crested Butte, Colorado, but decided that this was important and wanted to be a part of it.

We took our time getting up, and arrived at the cabin at about 10:00 a.m. We got moved into the cabin and enjoyed some time with Steve’s parents; then Steve and I headed over to Dowdy Lake, where our friends, Louise and Paul, were camping. They camp there often, so we always try to go visiting if we can. We are always amazed by their camping set-up. They have a 5th wheel as big as a house, as well as awnings, smokers, big comfy chairs and more. They truly camp in luxury! They had a big group of friends and family along this time, made up of seven campsites and 27 people. We stayed at their camp for a few hours, and invited them to join us for fireworks if they were interested. 

As we were leaving Dowdy, we got a text that Grandma, Grandpa and our daughter were heading over to Steve’s brother's cabin for dinner and fireworks, so we just drove straight over there. Steve's brother and his wife have a cabin near the lake where they shoot off the fireworks. It is the ideal place to hang out, away from the crowds, and enjoy the evening until the fireworks begin. 

When we got there our nephew and his girlfriend were throwing axes and knifes at a huge target, so we joined in. Somehow, the guys are so much better at this than we girls are. I just can’t understand it. But I guess that when a big bear comes strolling along we will be safe with our big burly, hatchet throwing men. We hung around the cabin just having fun for the next few hours. 

Family and friends just enjoying the after

Steve's brother and his wife had prepared grilled vegetables with shrimp and sausage kabobs for dinner, and grandma brought beans and corn salad to accompany it. So yummy! And the best news is…our daughter could eat all of it!! After dinner we cleaned up the dishes while the fire was being built at the fire pit. We all headed up there for some banana s’mores, and just hung out until the fireworks started. 

Steve’s mom took a walk down by the lake to see all of her mountain friends, and to her surprise, there was a big moose, strolling among all of the people (fortunately staying calm). Everyone was giving him plenty of room, and allowing him to just stroll where he wanted until he finally wondered up away from the crowd. As fun as it is to see a moose up close and personal, it is also very important to give them lots of space. If they get scared, they will attack, and they are big and dangerous. The funniest part about the unexpected moose is that the fireworks were delayed because all of the emergency vehicles were keeping their eye on him, rather than preparing for the show. 

Once he wondered off, the fireworks began, and as always, it was a beautiful show. The view through the trees and the reflection off of the lake is always such a treat. Fireworks in the mountains are so relaxing and spectacular!