@just bee wrote:
@rnmom wrote:
I hope that everyone had a nice 4th of July. I will admit, I haven't been feeling terribly patriotic lately with everything that's going on in our country. But I did get a slight reprieve for one night.
Our family decided to take an overnight trip, on friday night, to Shipshewana in Indiana. We haven't left overnight in probably about 4 years because of the dogs, but we found a dog sitter and decided to take a chance. I knew I didn't want to just "go up north", everyone does that, and I wanted to get out of Michigan. Wonder why. Never been to Indiana so we decided to try it.
So we hit the road Friday morning and found the country's largest flea market. We shopped during the day and spent the night. They had fireworks (everything around here was cancelled) that we were able to actually see very well from the car in the hotel parking lot so when they were done we able to just walk back up to our room.
We ate in a restaurant and the kids got to swim in the hotel pool and we played ping pong, air hockey and video games in the small arcade. Saturday we shopped some more and headed home. It was so darn hot, by around 12:30 we just couldn't stand it anymore so even though I didn't really want to leave, we did.
We had such a nice time. Everyone was acting almost "normal". A few masks, but definitely the minority, whereas up here, almost everyone wears one and we feel out of place because we don't. I did not want to leave and come back at all, I felt like I was coming back to jail. Just being able to do those little things, that we all take for granted, is what makes life worth living. I didn't realize how much we missed it. If we have to be locked in forever, when we didn't even do anything wrong, then what's the point of even being here?
Anyway, we bought lots of stuff at the flea market, some of it we actually needed, most of it we didn't. We ate lots of food, I probably gained a pound back in 2 days. But it was needed so badly. We had such a good time that I'm already planning to go back in about a month when I have another small stretch off work, before hubby goes back in the fall. (If he goes back, might end up doing all online teaching again if we get locked back up).
I don't know how many times the kids told me how much fun they were having, how much they enjoyed being out. They thanked me more times than I can remember. And this is two teenage, almost teenage boys, remember. They were asking me when we could go back and didn't want to come home either. It was actually kind of sad. Made it worth every single penny and makes me want to do it again. This lockdown is terribly hard on them too. Maybe worse than on the grownups. So it was bittersweet. We had a fun, but didn't want to come home.
@rnmom
This is something that should be published and read because it just says so much. You summed things up when you said...
If we have to be locked in forever, when we didn't even do anything wrong, then what's the point of even being here?
And that's how it feels here. We're being punished. Every time our governor speaks, it's punitive. And it's always a threat. If you don't comply and do what we're telling you to do, you will pay. We'll shut it all down again.
The annual Independence Day celebration at Balloon Fiesta Park was canceled, of course. No fireworks at Isotopes Park because the baseball season has also been canceled.
Instead, the city planned fireworks displays at a handful of parks and then told us not to come to the parks. Instructions were to stay home. We were told that we could watch from our backyards.
Call me crazy, but how was this supposed to work in a city this size? I can guarantee that a lot of people weren't able to see them.
But I can tell you what did happen.
It's been terribly dry and fire danger is extremely high. The governor discouraged illegal fireworks this year. And guess what? There were more than ever. They've been going off every night and even during the day for the past week.
I stood outside last night and there were explosions all over the city and in my neighborhood. The dog has been terrorized all week.
I don't even know how to interpret this. I'm out there, in my driveway, every year watching the display at Balloon Fiesta Park and there are a few going off around the city and in the neighborhood, but last night was different. I have a view of the mountains and most of the city and it looked like it was one giant display.
I've never seen or heard this many in the 25 years I've lived here.
Again, I'm not sure what it means.
We too, had every single fireworks display cancelled. We had one small town that still had some planned but then they had to cancel it the night before because the AG threatened the town with citations, etc for going against the governor's EO. I'm glad I left the state, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
And us too, we had more personal fireworks than we've ever had before. Ours are legal up here now, and we always hear some, but there have been tons this year. I was worried about fire here too, it's been super dry for us and hot, almost 100, for a week or two now. My grass is totally burned up and brown. There were a couple fires in neighboring towns, but nothing really close by thank goodness.