Happy Birthday America!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

I have to say that now I live here and to be honest I think the UK could learn a thing or two about patriotism from the USA.  Although I know since last year the UK have stepped it up and I think most people are loving their country again.  I'm sure we will see more of that with the Olympics in London later this month - I'm excited for that!

Anyway back onto July 4th!  Provo celebrate big style with their "Freedom Festival". It lasts for quite a few days over the first week in July, and from what I can make out they have events all year.  I've been told that the parade in Provo on the 4th is the biggest in Utah and since Ben and I live 3 blocks away from the parade route we were not missing out on this - plus this would be my first parade, well apart from the numerous parades that me and Marie have seen at Disney World on our travels.

About a week before the parade I was at the library and started to notice these little signs on the side of the road saying that you were not allowed to "stake out" out parade spot until 3pm on 3rd July.  I laughed at this because who would really stake out a spot 18 hours before a parade would start.  Little did I know that Utahn's, and no doubt most American's take this holiday very seriously as was evident on 3rd July.  I walked to the grocery store at 9am and there were sneaky people who had already "staked out" their spot.  They were sitting on chairs with blankets over them because it was already so hot.  Ben and I took a walk downtown later that day and the whole of University Avenue, on both side (around about 1.5 miles from where we walk from) were "staked out", and it was still 15 hours before the parade.  It looked like tent city... don't believe me? Check out these pictures...

Very few people were actually there at that time - the stipulation was at least one person had to be there the whole time.  The city even has active power points so people can run their fans, power their mobiles and of course go on facebook on their laptops as I witnessed. It was certainly interesting!!

Ben and I decided we were not going to be crazy and stay outside in the heat all night just to see a parade, it was 98f (35c) at 7pm, but that we would get up early and try and find a spot.  That night I was grateful for a bed and AC when I thought of all these crazy people sleeping outside in that heat.

After an eventful night which resulted in me not being able to take any more of the noise I got up at 4am and cleaned - I put that part in because the whole night people in cars honked their car horns, set off fireworks constantly and played really loud music coupled with really loud singing. I guess they were really getting into the holiday. Sometimes I hate living so close to BYU!

We got to the parade at 7.30am and managed to get a space right on the corner of our intersection which meant we were 3 blocks from the apartment - perfect!!  This was the scene in front of me - I kid not they had this couch out the night before too. I loved it! This bunch of people were super friendly and even loved the fact I was Scottish...phewww!

After waiting around an hour the pre parade happened - I didn't know this happened.  We figured these were the people who didn't quite cut the actual parade but in the spirit of Independence Day they let them go down the parade route.  It was fun.  I'm just going to overload you with pictures now BUT the highlight of the parade for me was seeing The Nielsons. I've followed Stephanie Nielson's blog for about 3 years now and she has an inspirational story and is an amazing example.  Her family were the Grand Marshalls for the parade.  You can read her blog at:  nieniedialogues.blogspot.com

Enjoy the photos!  We really did have a fun time, especially with the Slurpee drinking at 8.45am!