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The parade route, before it begins, tingles with excitement. People are not yet tired from the heat. The day is still somewhat cool in fact. The median is lined with American flags and the Ashland Springs Hotel can be seen in the distance on the right. The fancy (mostly red) cars will hold the dignitaries and be at the start of the parade. Liberty Street Park (also known as Triangle Park) fills the area to the back left.
I thought I’d mix things up in this series by jumping forward 12 hours to some fireworks that happened later on the 4th. We watched them from the hill just below the Science Building on the SOU campus.
I tried a bunch of different options for taking pictures of fireworks on my LX3. Once again, the setting that worked the best was the default “ia” mode. The SCN Fireworks mode didn’t come out as good.
I ended up with loads and loads of decent photos from the Fourth of July festivities. I’ll feature them in random order over the next few weeks.
Today’s picture is of the Macaroni’s band. Macaroni’s is a restaurant in downtown Ashland. One of the band members got lost on Mt. McLaughlin the night before, didn’t turn up until morning, but still played in the band for the parade. Now that is dedication.
I told you a couple days ago that the parade in town for the fourth is a big deal. So big that the First Couple couldn’t get a good spot on the road and had to stand on a roof instead.
You may recognize this residence from a prior entry. They put penguins up there for winter. I’ll have to remember to take a picture of that scene someday.
Here are some more participants from the parade…
Yesterday’s entry began a series of posts on Ashland’s 4th of July celebrations. Ashland is known for several things: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Southern Oregon University, and probably number three on the list is the Fourth of July festivities.
In fact, the first time Ashland really jumped out on our radar was when we were passing through on the Fourth of July. “Wow,” we thought, “this town really does a lot of cool things and attracts a really big crowd for the 4th.” So big, in fact, that we couldn’t get a room and spent the night of the fourth on the road heading back to our home in San Jose, California, at the time, to arrive just before dawn.
Now we have lived here for almost nine years and have missed only two or three Independedence Day celebrations. Last year we missed it because we were in Copenhagen, Denmark. Next year we will miss it as we’ll be in Japan.
Today’s picture is of what happens to the roads in the day or two before the parade. Everyone stakes out their spots with chairs, blankets, and tarps on Siskiyou Boulevard. Tarps were actually banned this year, but I still saw many out there. This photo was taken not on the 4th but on the morning of the 3rd. You need to be prepared if you want a good spot at this event. I don’t need a spot this year as I’m in the parade. Stay tuned for more on that.
The tallest building in town, the Ashland Springs Hotel (formerly known as the Mark Antony and before that as the Lithia Hotel) is moving into its 85th year. Tomorrow thousands will gather in front of or near the hotel from all over Oregon and Northern California to participate in Ashland’s Fourth of July festivities.
Looking at Grizzly Peak from town you wouldn’t think that at the top lies a large, mostly flat meadow, but that is what you will find.
If you plan to hike other “peaks” in the area like Mt. Ashland, Mt. McLaughlin, or Pilot Rock you will find no such surprises on the top of them.
A typical Ashland scene this time of year…
Notice the California plates. I guess I can’t complain without being a hypocrite given that I feel in love with Ashland on a tourist visit from California myself.
If the trees look dead in this picture that is because they mostly are. A fire burned everything on top of Grizzly Peak several years back. To tell you the truth, I find the hike on Grizzly to be much more interesting now after the fire. Not only is the dead wood beautiful but life is springing up like crazy at the base of the trees.
You can’t really see it in this photo, but I risked my camera’s life by taking this and a few other photos as we got caught it a hail and rain storm. I was soaked and so was my camera, but it is still working fine.
The bit of town you can see is probably Medford. I think I was pointed northwest when I took this photograph. This picture looks much better on a big screen, with your browser maximized, after clicking on the image.