Happy Fourth of July!
Well, we spent the day hanging around the campsite and swimming. Even though it was a chlorinated pool, the water somehow tasted salty. Still, it was ok until Chris pointed out that we were swimming in everyone else's butt sweat. Pretty gross when you think about it. That ended the swimming for me thankyouverymuch.
We went out to see fireworks in Peoria tonight. I have never seen such a crowd for fireworks before. I mean, where I live every town has fireworks. You have a dozen places to choose from - all within 10 miles of your house. We walked in to Walmart to kill time before the fireworks and I asked the cashier, "Is this the only place around that does fireworks?" She said, "No, Chicago does them and St. Louis does them." (For those of you who don't know, both Chicago and St. Louis are a good 3 hours away.) In other words, I guess if you live in central Illinois, this is pretty much it.
The cool thing about our optimal viewing spot is that we were parked between Buffalo Wild Wings and Culvers. Hot wings and frozen custard anyone?
39 comments:
Wow, so am I correct in assuming that you also live 3 hours away from the Brookfield Zoo? And you went twice in like a week? That's crazy! haha!
From what I recall of central Illinois, you can just about see the ones shot off in Peoria from any point between Chicago and St. Louis. Am I right?
Great Firework Pictures! I hope Everyone had a great Happy 4th of July! We didn't get to see any fireworks besides the ones on TV. But we are thankful for that. :)
SSO question: where do you get the internet connection if you are camping??? some sort of satellite connection because life without being online is...well, just not the same?
franzi
LOL about the 'butt sweat'!
I used to live in Springfield, IL (about a good 12 years ago now) and I remember that there was a pretty decent fireworks display down there.
speaking on salt-water pools, apparently it's the new "thing" for pools. Supposedly they're easier to maintain and healthier than all those chemicals in the old-fashioned pools. We had a similar experience with one at a hotel, only we didn't suppose it was butt-sweat, but something much worse... and yellow.
I'm thinking that girl didn't know what she was talking about. All small towns in Central IL have fireworks. = ) The next time you go camping you should come to Petersburg. You can park your RV at New Salem State Park and hang out with us!
Hmmm....puts the old saying "But would it play in Peoria?" in a whole new light....
Here in central Illinois, Springfield and Litchfield both have nice fireworks displays. I'm sure there are other towns that do as well-maybe some of the other blog readers know.
I bet the pool you are swimming in is a saltwater pool. The town that we just moved to has those also and I couldn't figure it out at first either. They taste nasty but my kids say it is easier to open their eyes underwater
We have a pool and the water is very salty because we use well water to fill it. Everyone always asks why it's so salty so the next time I'm going to tell them it's butt sweat...Too Funny! Ok, that's my kind of humor :)
But you had great seats, and that's important.
think i'll go for the custard. lol Happy 4th
Our pool is "sterilized" with salt- the chemicals of them are gentler to your skin, nicer to swimsuits, kinder to eyes and yes, taste salty. Still safe to swim in! (although baby pools are still creepy to me)
Just wanted to say HAPPY 4TH OF JULY (late). We are in southeast texas and we actually just pop fireworks in our own yards or in the street. Its a wonderful thing you know to not have to load anyone up to go watch them... i'm shocked that there was only 1 place to watch the fireworks. hope u have a great one
Dawn, I lived in Central Illinois for 6 years. Bloomington and Normal both do their own fireworks. (45 minutes away) Also, many other of the town will do fireworks, evidently whoever you talked too is just dumb!
Are you SURE it was a chlorinated pool? Some have converted to saltwater to keep them clean in a more natural way instead of chlorine. Have a great rest of your trip!
That was a great shot captured of the fireworks Dawn.
Glad you are having fun on your camping trip!
How are you getting an internet connection while camping?! However you're doing it, I'm glad to get your updates. About the swimming pool...the whole point of treating pools with chlorine or salt is to kill all the germs from the butt sweat or ahemm any other fluids. Now swimming in lakes and creeks creep me out, you never know what's living in there!
You weren't swimming in butt sweat. It was probably a pool with a salt cleaning system - our pool is this type. We converted it a year ago, from traditional chlorine to salt. It stays cleaner, it's much easier to care for, gentler on the skin, hair, and eyes, and better for the rest of the world (no chemicals). As long as the water wasn't yellow, I'd say you were ok :)
Thank you for sharing the butt sweat comment. This will be used as another tool in the arsenel in keeping the kids from putting the pool water in their mouth. We have called it bum water.
Have a great July 4th. Thanks for sharing the fireworks photos.
I live in Pana,IL. We have fireworks. Almost every town of any size (meaning more than a few hundred people) around does, too. People actually do survive outside of Chicago and St. Louis in these here parts!
I live just outside of Springfield IL. You can't see Peoria's here but we could see the fireworks from the three places in Springfield that shot them plus Chatham, Auburn and a few other smaller towns. That girl was pretty clueless.
LOL Uh yeah, Chicago and Mt Louis? That is funny!! Here we can see Arlington Park, Rolling Meadows and a whole bunch of other ones while ours are going off. That's funny. Have a safe trip home!
Just for the record, pretty much every town in Central IL has their own fireworks show. Although Peoria is one of the bigger shows in the area. We watched them last night in Pekin, about 15 minutes away from Peoria. Apparently that cashier doesn't get out much :)
I'm not much for camping but I'm glad you are having fun. We were out of town and not back home to the huge unpacking mess.
I grew up in central IL and am actually visiting this week in a small town named Towanda. We had a very nice array of fireworks and could see some of Bloomington's fireworks and I know that Normal has a good fireworks selection.
I also know that the berry from yesterday was a mulberry and they are fine to eat. Unfortunately they turn everything they touch purple. :)
Love your blog!!!
I think you were swimming in a salt water chlorinated pool! That's what we swim in. It's awesome. So much easier on the skin and eyes.
Sounds like ya'll are having a great time!
Happy 4th!
Hi Dawn, I was being pulled in the lake by my hubbabd in his waiters in a blow up canoe..What ya think of that?
Swimming in butt sweat??? Mmmmmm! Hope you have antibiotics!
Where I live, there are only 2 places to see fireworks within a 45 minute drive. It's esp. INSANE considering NJ is only a 5 1/2 hour drive from start to finish! LOL
Hope you had a great holiday!!!
Mmm, yes please, on both. You need a little dairy to help sooth the spiciness of the wings.
great post....But this is jus out of curiosity.I think i have met you YAHOO messenger.Do you write poems???
A salt water pool is still chlorinated...it is an ionizing process that separates to Na from the Cl in NaCl (table salt)...
We did this with our pool this year and the kids love it. You also put baking soda in the pool if the Ph level gets off. It is really pretty cool.
Happy Independence Day (late).
Blessings, E
I live in Central IL, Decatur, almost every small town in central IL has fireworks, and some are really good. We went to Harristown (VERY small town, probably less than 1,000), they were actually very good this year! Obviously that cashier had no clue what she was talking about! lol I have family up in the Chicago burbs, they have no clue how we survive down here! But we do just fine! lol We AREN't all hillbillies and rednecks!
Mindy
I was born & raised in Peoria and watched those fireworks every year. I remember when they 1st syncd them to music (Ohhhh) and when they light up the bridge for the 1st time after fireworkds (Ahhhh.) But there are displays all over the place down there. In fact, we lived close to a country club on the North Side of town and they would have their own display each eary on the 4th.
I'd love to know where you were camping - there was a place down by the river on the East Peoria side that we used to camp at. But my camping involved a trailer with fridge & microwave. I've done the whole tent thing, and I don't see it happening in the future. Of course, I did it 7 months pregnant while chasing a 2 year old around...with 4 other families and 11 kids...when it rained...all night...and we weren't close to the bathrooms... *shiver* Oh the horror!
Little jealous about the frozen custard...do you know how hard it is to find that in Ca?
We used to live in Chicago...after fighting all the crazies to see the fireworks, I'd watch them in Peoria ANY day.
For future reference, Monticello, Champaign, and Decatur all do wonderful fireworks shows.
You sure know how to get all of the small town folks riled up! I was one of those small town folks from Illinois (Taylorville) for years. I got a little riled up myself. We watched fire works every year, and never traveled to see them. Now I live in the DFW area going to a fire works show is a definatly a time commitment!
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