4th of July - Blanding Style...

My brother asked me last week, before Mike and I left for Blanding, "What makes the 4th of July in Blanding so special?" Honestly, I couldn't give him a good answer. As I thought about it, I realized what the answer was... Family. Everyone returns to Blanding for the 4th of July and it is one big family reunion. Mike's siblings and their children return, Mike's cousins and their families return. Everyone who grew up in Blanding return home to their roots.

This cracked me up! Notice in the bottom right corner - a water bottle is holding down the flag... Only in Blanding!


The 'Tunnel' was a featured float. Mike's grandfather, Marvin F. Lyman was instrumental in getting water to Blanding so that it would become a viable town. (Mike's great-grandfather, Walter C. Lyman, had the original idea for the tunnel and began the digging to get the water into the town.)


This shirt sums up the way most citizens feel about the artifact scandel in San Juan County. (Another shirt stated "Legalize Pot" with a picture of a piece of Anasazi pottery!)

The Gadianton Band is my favorite part of the parade! Mike's uncles, Joe and Francis, originally started this band and they play each year in the parade!!!

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Uncle Joe in the pirate hat.

I took this photo because when Mike's parents moved back to Blanding in 1973, his dad worked for a company that had something to do with Gallium. (His dad's degree is in chemistry.)

Tradition! Kabobs after the parade. This is the 'hottest' item in town on the 4th of July.

Visiting with family at Mike's parents' home.

Mike getting into the spirit of the evening.

The Band... to which Mike declared "that this was his favoriate part of the evening". They played 60's and 70's tunes.

Fireworks! (My favorite part of the evening!!!) We had about seven encores. People thought the fireworks were over, an announcer even declared so, and fireworks kept going off. It just caused me to laugh and laugh and laugh!

Sunday evening Scot, Mike's brother, took us up to the the mountain to see the tunnel! A caravan of five cars with family loaded in each drove into Abajo Mountains to see the tunnel that Grandpa Lyman was heavily involved in completing.

Mike at the entrance of the tunnel. It runs about 1.25 miles between the north and south side of the mountain, bringing water from a spring on the north side. Eventually, it becomes Blanding's drinking water!

The melodrama is written by local residents and presented each year. This year's melodrama had inserts alluding to things associated with the artifacts scandal in San Juan County. Most of the residents are not pleased with the FBI, BLM, etc. These things were incorporated into the melodrama in a creative way! (I actually tried to attend on Friday evening and it was SOLD OUT! Who would have thought something would be sold out in Blanding??? I finally went back on Monday evening and enjoyed viewing it with Julene, Mandy, Jenna, and Zac!

Other highlights...

• Swimming at the Blanding Pool which is directly across the street from Mike's parents home
• Homemade ice cream a Lang Family tradition quickly gaining popularity with the Christensen Family
• Hearing the Canon go off at 6:00am on July 4th awakening the town to the day of celebration!
• Visiting and catching up with family

I'm also glad that we were able to bring Mike's mother home from the hospital and stay with her as well as visit Mike's dad at the 'Country Club'