Independence Day, and I do mean INDEPENDENT.

Hey friend. I have to say I had the strangest 4th of July weekend I have ever experienced. I'm sure that things were weird all over the country, given Corona and all. But still.

I didn't have to work July 3rd or 4th just because it fit in with my regular schedule. The 3rd was the observed holiday, and I was terrified that businesses would be busting with people trying to do fun things with friends and family, complicated by trying to enforce social distancing. For this reason, the boys and I didn't go exploring Tooele much on Friday. We did discover in a real way that Tooele is still very much on lock-down from the virus. There isn't an outbreak here, but everything has clamped down in a big way as to even being open.

Because it's usually a big weekend for places like ice cream shops, I was hoping some mom-and-pops in town would be open in some way so the public could enjoy their deliciousness. Absolutely not the case. While the mom-and-pop joints were usually open for business at the drive-thru, it seems they all closed Friday and Saturday (some even up until Monday). Even in this weird socially distant setting where dining in still isn't allowed in most food places, I would think that most joints would WANT to open for this weekend because it usually means big business.

Well, I was wrong.

On Saturday we drove up and down Main Street, the main drag of Tooele. American flags decorated everything, lining all the sidewalks and windows. It was a lot to see, but it was still nice to see. The weird part was the obvious absence of people. The street was made to appear accommodating for a crowd, yet no one was outside. No one was on the sidewalks, and we didn't even see many cars driving through town. Everything was empty.

We went to a park during lunch time. The park was nice; it had a good playground set, everything was clean and new-looking, the lawn was green and recently mowed, and everywhere around the playground equipment were picnic tables. I expected those tables to have people in tank tops, coolers filled with soda open, with burgers and hot dogs getting served up. But much like Main Street, everything was empty. My car was the only car in the parking lot, and there was no other soul to speak of at the park.

Maybe the rapture happened the day before, and I missed the memo?

And then the evening came. I expected the day to end on a dud, so when it was nearing bed time, it was with hesitation that I suggested we go watch the fireworks I could hear outside. Honestly, I was surprised there were fireworks at all. But I figured it wouldn't be a good 4th of July without seeing SOMETHING colorful in the sky, even if it was likely going to be lame and disappointing. The boys and I walked to the edge of the trailer park and saw several fireworks light up the sky before the sun was even set yet. One of my neighbors came up to me and told me to find a specific elementary school and watch the fireworks from there because the show was gonna start at 10:00.

I figured, why not? I loaded the kids into the car and drove into town. We didn't park in the right elementary school lot, I'm sure. But it didn't matter. Aerial fireworks exploded all around us starting at 9:45. They flew into the air from easily twenty different locations all over Tooele, and those spots encircled us completely. When some sparks burst in the air, all we had to do was turn around to see more and more of them launch from further down Main street, or behind us in a neighborhood up the mountain, or behind the elementary school, or just over in another neighborhood. Because Tooele is not a big place, all these location couldn't have been more than two miles away from us.

And the fireworks did not relent. For a solid hour they flew and exploded in the sky, filling everything with color and noise. All we had to do was turn around to see yet another show. It was like we were in the parking lot spinning circles for sixty minutes.

And we were ALONE! No one was with us in the parking lot. The boys ran around like feral children because there were no other cars--not even empty cars--to speak of. It was as if everyone spent the entire day in their backyards preparing for their personal light show, and all of them blasted off between 9:45 and 10:45.

I've seen some spectacular firework shows in my day. I’ve done Disneyland. I’ve done the 4th at the Washington Monument. But this by far was the strangest and most surprising of them all. I don't know if my story is typical of Tooele, and from what I've seen on Facebook, fireworks were abundant this year. But how awesome to end such an eerie weekend.

Share with me your news, friend. I'm eager to know how your own Independence Day went.

Warmly,

D