Patriotism is alive and well in Provo

Monday morning, we sat out by the road with our good friends the Poppletons and watched the America's Freedom Festival Grand Parade go by. If we counted correctly, there were 12 high school marching bands, plus 2 bagpipe groups and 2 groups (plus a couple pianists) that played music from floats. Here are some visual highlights! If you're interested, we have A LOT more pictures...

(Our neighbors wanted their time in the spotlight)

("This concludes the Pre-Parade... Stand by for the GRAND PARADE!")

(Old-time fire truck)

(Smokey the Bear!)

(John Curtis - Provo City Mayor)

(Gary Herbert - Utah Governor)

(There were a LOT of military personnel/family that were in the parade - I was so proud and impressed at the positive reception from the crowd! We saw veterans, family members of servicemen who were killed in action, ...)

(Orrin Hatch - Senator)

(Wells Fargo coach)

(Blue Angels fly-by)

("Classical 89: Fifty is the new forte" - local Classical radio station celebrating 50 years - PS, there are girls playing pianos on this float!!)

(Cosmo the Cougar - BYU mascot)

(When we saw the signs that said "Military vehicle courtesy of [private owner's name]" we imagined this thing just sitting in someone's garage... I mean... what else does that statement mean?!)

("Utah Old Time Fiddlers' Association" - brought back memories of when I was playing my fiddle on a float in a parade... Thomas said I should join with these guys! I think it'd be a blast!)

("Berg Undertaking" - a hearse pulled by horses)

("God Bless Our Troops!! Thank you for your sacrifice and service!")

(A cousin of Clifford?)

("Moon Light Serenaders Dance Band" - this is the one Thomas wants to join)

(Provo mission missionaries)

(Our stake's float - cool, huh?)

(a real balloon animal - check out this pig! Thomas says the balloons make it look like he's a series of sausages)

(this kid is riding one of about a dozen llamas that were in the parade)

("Family & Temple" - I loved this float! That looks exactly like the Provo temple)

(I can't remember... is it King George? Curious Kong? oh, that's right, Curious George...)

(no, no, it says "Bank of American FORK"....)

("God is Love, Jesus is Lord")

After the parade, we hit up the bazaar on Center Street:

(and so did EVERYONE else!)

(we decided to skip on these... what does this even MEAN?!)

(I impersonated Uncle Sam at the Democratic Party's table. They even let me take home a voter registration card.)

(We wrote letters to soldiers at a special booth.)

(I couldn't resist the Cinnamon Almonds & Pecans... so we brought some home. We'll be experimenting with recipes for them on our Bistro page soon!)

After a short rest at home, and some yummy Peruvian food for lunch, we headed over to Colonial Days. We began with a tour of the Crandall Historical Printing Museum, where we learned first-hand why the linotype machine is called that (it literally produces a Line-o'-type!), understood why we say "uppercase" and "lowercase," saw a working replica of the Gutenberg Press and the 2-volume Gutenberg Bible, and caught a glimpse of this thing:

(the beginning page of the first illuminated version of the Book of Mormon)

Outside, we saw Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and some regular colonial people. There were some ladies spinning wool into yarn and this kid was trying on armor...

Before heading home, we sat and listened to this cute little family band, CrosStrung. They played and sang old folk songs. The lady who is second from the left is the mother of the other three band members. She mostly played guitar. The youngest, on the left, played the bass. The other girl (on the right) played fiddle (and made me want to play my fiddle). The son/brother is playing guitar in the picture, but played the banjo for most of their show. 

 oxox