Grand Finale!

The other day I took you along with me -via my little camera -to the Parade at Snow Shoe that marked the beginning of the Snow Shoe Fireman's Carnival.

Tonight, I'm taking you back there for the Grand Finale -the FIREWORKS!

Believer it or not, tonight was the first time in all the years I have lived around here that I ever went to see the Fireworks at Snow Shoe at the close of the Fireman's Carnival. I worked just down the road a hop, skip and a jump away from the park where they hold the carnival for seven years. But never was able to go to see the fireworks because I always had to work on Saturday nights so my kids never got to see this. Plus, back then, I never had the extra funds that one would need to take three kids to a carnival as there would be money needed for tickets for rides, plus the games and to say nothing of how much it would have cost for all the different -but good -junk food available too.

However, tonight, Mandy and the kids, along with my son, his girlfriend and her daughter and I all went down there specifically to watch the fireworks.

Now, we've been over to State College a couple of times for their big Fourth of July celebration and the fireworks display they put on between Beaver Stadium and Bryce Jordan Center on campus and that is awesome, most definitely i t is. The fireworks there are regarded as one of the best in the country -all choreographed and set to music. Really a fantastic site to behold, for sure.

And now, the display at the carnival isn't near as big. But that also comparing apples to oranges if one were to judge one against the other here. But I think for a forty-five minute display such as we saw tonight, it was pretty damned good! So my kudos go out to all the people from the Snow Shoe area and the fire company who worked to put this event together as You. Done. Good! REALLY, REALLY GOOD!

One thing though -the State College event starts their fireworks show at 9:30 and it runs I think for an hour or perhaps a little longer. I really have no idea there. But the Snow Shoe folks don't start their display until 11:00 p.m. which really threw us off a bit.

Even though Mandy had managed to get Kurtis to take a nice nap this afternoon in hopes it would keep him from being a total crabby-appleton tonight, since the display didn't start till so late, the benefits of that nap had run out long before the fireworks began. So we actually had two kind of fireworks ongoing then -Kurtis fussing like crazy a lot of the time and then, the fireworks.

We got down there a little after 9:00 p.m. and so, had loads of time to wander around, milling about the crowd there. We did stop and get something that is an absolute must if you are going to be at one of these carnivals though.

Funnel Cakes!

Mandy, Clate and I each had a big funnel cake and we all figured that, considering the sweet tooth both Maya and Kurtis have, that they would enjoy and probably end up pigging out on our funnel cakes. But that's not the way it played out as both of them got on their finicky food horse tonight and wouldn't even take a taste of our funnel cakes. Fine by me cause that meant there was that much more for me to enjoy cause I do love me some funnel cakes, for sure!

Maybe someday I try making some at home and see if they'll try 'em then. Hmmm. That might not be such a good idea though cause if they were to turn out ok and if the kids would decide to be brave and try one, I might make a monster demanding funnel cakes all the time then.

While we sat at a picnic table and enjoyed our funnel cakes, watching all the locals walk by, to my surprise a lady came up to our table and spoke to me. Took me a couple seconds before things registered and I knew who it was because I haven't seen her in many, many years. But it was Dee Dee, one of the girls I used to waitress with at Max's Restaurant about 21-28 years ago! It was probably the first time Dee Dee has seen Mandy and Clate too though since they were both just little kids. She stayed and chatted with us for a good while until the kids wanted to go back to our vehicles to get ready to watch the fireworks display. That's when we found out they wouldn't be putting them off until 11 p.m.!

Where we had parked turned out to be a really good vantage point though to see the fireworks.

We had parked beside the baseball field -by the concession stand there I think -((well by some building within the fence anyway. Mandy had my jeep with the front end by the fence and Clate had his truck which he was able to park beside the building. With the tailgate pulled out and a blanket on the bed of the truck though, Maya and Rachel (Clate's girlfriend's daughter) were able to stretch out on the blanket and lay there, watching the display.

I stood in front of the jeep -with the fence right in front of me and on some pictures, you probably can see the bar that went down the fence horizontally. And maybe you can even make out the fence itself in some of the shots. But anyway, remember when looking at these pics that I just have a little Kodak digital and although it has a setting to use for fireworks, I am still not all that great at photography either. So keep that in mind when you look at these pictures.








The last one here kind of reminded me of a picture of giant sperm cells wafting down out of the black sky. Okay, enough of my artistic interpretations, huh?

I did got more pictures of the fireworks but I'm sure some are probably saying hey, you see one still photo of some fireworks going off and you've seen 'em all. Maybe, if I get really ambitious, I might put them all in an album and post that to my facebook account so you can see them all there then if you are a diehard fireworks fan or something like that.

I did get two little videos of the fireworks too and although I was gonna put them on YouTube and load them here from there, I really am too darned tired tonight to putsy around waiting for them to load on YouTube so in stead, I'll just have to wait to show them to you.

I figure you'll all understand my being tuckered out tonight and kind of wanting to go to bed now, won't 'cha?

Hope so and besides, doesn't that give you something to look forward too that way?