Celebrating America!

Northwoods Journal
Saturday, July 4, 2015

No lollygagging around this morning. Mark had seen in the newspaper that there were garage sales north of us going toward Hillman and Long Lake so we ate a quick breakfast and got out the door.

It was a lovely day for a holiday, and for a drive, but the first two sales – which were quite a drive to get to – ended up being a waste of time and gas. Eventually we made our way down to Hillman and then back toward Atlanta. Along Pleasant Valley we finally hit pay dirt. A BIG sale with lots, and lots, and lot of junk. We were there for more than an hour and we both found plenty of things to buy. We came away with two big boxes of treasures for $30! Before we could go home for lunch we had to stop in town at the Baklava Shop for enough shortbread and raspberry thumbprints to get us through the weekend. 🙂

Lunch was eaten out on the porch. Still no birds at the feeders, except for the hummingbirds, which refuse to let me take their picture! After lunch we made a bowl of Mark’s favorite macaroni salad (his mom’s recipe that I’ve been making for 30+ years now) to go with our dinner later and then it was time to take the dogs on their hike.

Mark drove quite a ways over to the area of Rouse and Roth Roads. There are some good trails in this area and we haven’t hiked there in awhile. Unfortunately we didn’t see anything worth taking a photo of, but I did get a picture of the beagles when we stopped to give them a rest. This log was very convenient for looping their leashes over.

The beagles aren’t that fond of resting.

The 4th of July parade was due to start at 6 p.m., so we didn’t have much time to spare between getting home from our hike and heading into town. Really, if you haven’t experienced a small-town 4th of July parade then you haven’t really experienced America!! The parade seemed shorter this year – no Uncle Sam on stilts! But the town was packed with families. It’s always nice to see Atlanta bustling with activity. That doesn’t seem to happen much anymore. I have made a gallery of parade photos.  Really, I must talk to the town council about having the parade start from the other end of town so that photographers don’t have to shoot straight into the sun! 🙂

The County Sheriff and the veterans start things out.

Jeep of veterans, always one of my favorites.

Every parade needs a classic car.

Floats for the Montmorency County 4-H fair and also for the Eagles.

The majority of the parade was taken up by the Elk Country Cruisers classic car club. I am only putting in one photo. 🙂

Miniature Amera-Gas tanker truck.

The Tri-Township Fire Department brought up the rear.

Every fire department must have a Dalmatian!

The parade lasted less than a half-hour and by 6:30 we were heading home for Mark to grill our steaks and to enjoy our dinner out on the porch. The hummingbirds kept us entertained and a couple of hairy woodpeckers finally found the suet.

Dishes needed to be done and then near dusk we headed to town for the fireworks show at the high school. At the end of our road we both noticed the incredible color of the setting sun. I was able to take several photos, but of course they don’t convey the deep colors. This one is about the best of what I took. (Later I read in my new Better Photo Basics book how to get a better sunset photo.)

Incredible 4th of July sunset.

For a small town, Atlanta puts on a really good fireworks display. People turn out in droves for the show and the field is always packed with cars. People have fun playing catch or lighting sparklers. It’s fun just to people watch!  Another popular activity is launching Chinese lanterns. Here is a photo of a group of people preparing a lantern.

Group preparing a Chinese lantern.

And here it is floating high in the sky.

Chinese lantern floating into the sky.

I don’t have a tripod (yet) so getting good fireworks photos is impossible. Here is the best of my attempts, of the grand finale. I liked the ghostly look of the “cross” (telephone pole) at the bottom.  Since fireworks only come around once a year, it’s a little hard to practice!

Fireworks grand finale.

The barred owl was calling when we got home. It was the perfect grand finale to our All American day!  I pray you and yours had a fun and safe 4th of July!