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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Fourth of July Memories

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

It's Saturday Night again - 

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!


Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has a new holiday assignment for us:

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

It's Saturday Night and the Fourth of July - let's have some Genealogy Fun! If you're reading this on Sunday morning, or even later, it's not too late for you to participate.

1) Think of the best Fourth of July you remember from your childhood.
2) Think of the best Fourth of July you remember from your adulthood.
3) What will you do on the holiday?
4) Write about one, or all, of them on your blog or in Comments to this post, or on Facebook. Please leave a comment and/or link on this post.


My best memories of Fourth of July were those few times we got into the car and drove somewhere to park and see the fireworks. I think one year we went to Danville where the display was at the football field of San Ramon Valley High School. My parents wouldn’t for an entry, so we never saw the close-up shows before the big firework displays.

When I was old enough to drive, the job of taking the younger siblings to see the fireworks fell on me. I remember one time climbing up on the big hill behind the John Muir hospital to watch the fireworks show from the Heather Farm Park in Walnut Creek. Again, we did it for free.

As an adult, I have never seen a close-up show of fireworks. We always found some good viewing spot to see the main display. With our own children, the spot was the marina in Martinez. From there, we could see the display from Vallejo and Benicia, too, though they were very small!

Growing up, my parents would barbecue. Most of the time it was some kind of chuck roast or tri tip that had been in a marinade all day. Sides included corn of the cob, cucumber and onion salad or potato salad, baked beans, and ice cream or watermelon. Sometimes there were other family, sometimes not.

As adults, my husband and I aren’t much for barbecue, so I don’t remember us doing this much, except for a few times cooking Laura’s chicken on the grill. When we barbecued, I liked to make foiled potatoes (cubed potatoes, chopped onions, butter, and spices).

The girls and I also watched 1776 the musical every year.

Today, we’re home alone. Nothing special to eat. No fireworks to watch. We plan to watch “The Urgent Mission of Betty Reid Soskin” on our local NBC station. Betty is a 98-year-old park ranger at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond and is a great speaker. If I can find 1776 on the TV, I’ll watch that, too. If not, I can always play the CD and sing along!

Copyright © 2020 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

Comments

  1. There isn't a lot of variety in the way Americans celebrate Independence Day, is there? However, it's often a fun day with family.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, there isn't. Actually I could have written about the time my girls and I marched in a parade with the DAR, and another time I marched with our Friends of Alhambra Creek.

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I should have explained. Laura was a friend of my daughter's and she loved the way my husband made these boneless chicken breasts on the barbecue, thus they were named "Laura's chicken"

      Delete

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