It's Independence Day today! In a small town community such as Boulder, it appears that everyone wants to celebrate the Red, White and Blue! Laura had a tennis match to go to; when she left the house she was decked out in all manner of patriotic colors. The club she attends was hosting a barbeque of some sort and she mentioned a number of neighbors and friends were having similar parties throughout the day. In the evening everyone was to gather at the house for an ice cream social and to watch fireworks. Our friends from Denver had no plans, so we invited the to hang out with us.
Baylee, Joel and their friend Ruben arrived around 2 pm. J was engrossed in car maintenance, Laura and Eric were somewhere in the party circuit and Paul was ready for a break from washing endless car parts. We all decided to check out Pearl Street again. Baylee thought we should get our drink on before leaving, so she fixed us what she called "go-sodas," a concoction of tequila, sweet/sour and orange juice, heavy on the 'go'. We piled into Rubens car (no go-soda for him) and headed toward Pearl Street.
Our first stop was to admire the bronze bear statue at the corner of Pearl and something. Good thing it was made out of sturdy stuff, we decided to make it an interactive art installation.
Our next stop was the Boulder Cafe. Happy hour was just beginning and our go-sodas were depleted. Refills were in order, and food too. There was no immediate seating outside, so we gathered in the bar, a smallish area adjacent to the restaurant. Their HH had lots of seafood on the menu, which made me wonder how fresh it was going to be. We ordered drinks all around and a seafood combo platter. The platter arrived filled with shrimp, crab, oysters and I don't remember what all else! We managed to get a seat at an outdoor table and commenced people watching. Boulder has quite an array of characters, or maybe what we were seeing were street performers out on break? Either way, the people walking up and down the Pearl Street Mall were entertaining to watch. Baylee and I ordered a plate of oysters, at $2 each for happy hour we got a whole bunch. They were fresh and plump too. When we got ready to leave, the waitress brought our bill. $33 for the food and drinks. Paul and I stared at it in amazement. I handed it back to the girl and told her we were not paying $33 for everything we just ate and drank. "Go back inside and bring us enough drinks to double this bill!" Now it was her turn to stare at us. She did as I asked and even with another round of drinks, the total bill was only $40.00. I don't know what YOU all are used to paying for cocktails and food, but in Phoenix you couldn't get four drinks for that price, even during happy hour!
Shortly thereafter we set off to find the car so we could rejoin J and Laura for the evening party. It started to rain, hard, and we ducked into a bar that had a staircase going down, underground. It was called the Sundown Saloon and seemed to be a pretty laid back place. We didn't stay long but did manage to play a game of shuffleboard and down some tequila while waiting for the rain to subside. The bartender gave us an umbrella, Ruben retrieved the car and we headed back to the house.
Unfortunately, we missed the barbeque, so we did the next best thing - we made nachos for everyone! After our snack we tumbled downstairs where Scott was playing drums. Joel took position in front of the keyboard, Baylee snagged a tamborine, Paul and J had harmonicas and while everyone jammed together I furiously pounded a bongo. I even managed to keep a beat. Sort of. It was too cool for school, but we couldn't play long as the fireworks were about to begin.
Once again we piled into cars with what seemed like the entire neighborhood forming a convoy to a nearby park. It was still raining hard but we had umbrellas and watched the sky light up while the warm rain steamed around our feet and created a misty fog. I coaxed the kids into synchronized oooohs and ahhhhs and we laughed until we were rolling on the car seats.
I can't remember when I'd had so much fun on Fourth of July.
