I had an awesome 4th of July with my sisters! Lori drove down from Sacramento in the morning and we headed to Stinson Beach for a walk on the sand. Because it had been such a hot week in the Bay Area, many people had decided to head to the beach. By the time we arrived at 9:30, the far parking lot in the sand was the only space available. There were already tons of people barbecuing, laying out on the beach, throwing balls to their happy dogs and building sandcastles with kids. The weather was perfect, warm, but not hot, and surprisingly, not a hint of a breeze, which is amazing for Stinson Beach. We enjoyed strolling on the beach for about an hour then headed back to Mom‘s house. By that point, the parking lot was closed and as we drove out of Stinson, we passed a very, very long line of cars slowly inching their way through town. We were very happy to avoid that mess.
We headed to the Marin County Fair, something we did every year when we were kids, but not an event I had been to for a long long time. We checked out all of the booths, the farm area, and kept ourselves hydrated with cold water and snowcones. The Marin County public library had their bookmobile, something that always fascinated me as a kid.
We watched Scottish Highland dancing, laughing at a little boy who went over to the MC and tried to lift up his kilt! We saw a man riding a penny farthing bike and a cool display of creations made by Star Wars fans.
The art show was very impressive, I may enter some collage art next year.
The main reason we were at the fair was for the evenings entertainment, four different tribute bands from the 70s and 80s! Lori, Lisa, Chrissy, her friend Abby and I danced and sang from 3:30 till nine! The first band, Foreverland, was a Michael Jackson tribute band. I’ve heard them several times and they are just fantastic. The horn section did all kinds of Michael Jackson moves as they played, it was very impressive. There was also a young kid moonwalking with his dad on the dance floor – I love it! The next band, Petty Theft, was a, you guessed it, Tom Petty tribute band. We discovered later that half of the band members graduated from our high school the year before I did. What a small world! The third band was Super Diamond, a Neil Diamond tribute band. I had not heard them before, and they were amazing – doing Neil Diamond songs, but also riffing on other bands music. Even singing part of Sweet Caroline to the tune of Sweet Child of Mine. The band members all wore very sparkly shirts, it was awesome hearing the crowd singing along. The final band was Tainted Love, delivering a slew of 80s songs. The whole audience was on its feet singing at the top of their lungs. There were quite a few teenagers in the audience, discovering Van Halen and Def Leppard for the first time. I sang myself hoarse and danced and danced, it was a wonderful night! Afterwards, Lori and I were too tired to stay up for the fireworks and headed home, sweaty and satisfied.
