Day 8: Americana

Beautiful day for a small-town Forth of July celebration. By 10:30 AM we were headed into Ely, bound for Whiteside park and festivities. We all watched the BWCA races, since I couldn't convince Tim to join a team. It was a relay with a canoe carry, running with a Duluth pack, and pitching and taking down a tent. The boys got to search for quarters in a big pile of sawdust. Jeremy found $1.75, and Zachary found one quarter. The older kids' division was quite a bit more competitive than Zachary was expecting. The parade was entertaining, though not as un-PC as parades we've seen in Tower (thinking of the OJ Simpson trial float from several years back). I had never seen a lawn chair drill team before. The kids enjoyed the post-parade carnival. There were lots of fun "north country" style carnival games - Fishing off the Dock, Loons on the Lake, Cast Away, and more. We didn't stay for too long, since our huge bag of parade candy was melting in the van.

The late afternoon brought swimming and a delicious steak dinner. Then, we were back to Ely for fireworks over Miner's lake. Spectacular. I LOVED to hear Jeremy's giggles as he saw bigger and better fireworks. The crazy people with the big blasts near us before the show were plenty of entertainment, but the show itself was just great. Much bigger than you'd expect for a town Ely's size. Tim had insisted on bringing Josey. Needless to say, she HATED it and was trying to crawl up into the dashboard before the real show even started.