Electric Picnic
This time of year brings back a lot of memories for me. When I was growing up, my parents and I would go to visit family friends in Austin for the 4th.
We'd go toobing down the San Marcos on the 3rd. But not tourist toobing. We'd bring our own toobs and sail way past the last pick-up spot for the rental companies. Then we'd enjoy the serene environment of a river void of randy revelers. Lunch would commence around 2 by a waterfall. The trip concluded with a quick pass over some fun rapids. Us kids would paddle down the river to get away from our parents, which in turn gave us an extra 10 minutes or so at the end of our trip to make repeated jumps off a bridge and swim. The fireflies would come blinking out of the trees just as our parents drifted in. We'd pack up, head home, shower, then enjoy gobs of food while we played board games and nursed our sunburns.
On the 4th, we'd go to downtown Austin to watch the fireworks by the Colorado River. When I was 3 I called it the "Electric Picnic" and the name stuck. We even had t-shirts made for us one year.
The symphony would play all day. And someone always came by and handed out annual frisbees to everyone. When I was really young, we'd drag food, chairs and blankets down a hill to pick out a prime spot next to the river. But when I was about 8, I think, my parents bought a motorhome. We'd park that puppy in the morning and enjoy air conditioning, video games, movies and frozen drinks for the rest of the day. Once in a while we'd take a cardboard-box ride down the hill.
We'd enjoy the symphony in the afternoon, and the kids would get increasinly antsy as the fireworks display neared. Those sunsets of my childhood were the longest of my lifetime.
After the fireworks, we'd pack up and get ready for Part 2 of our celebration. With hundreds of dollars of fireworks packed in the car, we'd head outside the city limits and create our own show. And they really were shows, especially when we'd get a defective firework, set a patch of grass on fire, or nearly put someone's eye out with a bottle rocket gone wrong. Around 4 in the morning, we'd head back home and fall asleep.
Breakfast the next day consisted of leftovers. One year we were crazy and made another toobing trip. But usually we loafed around the house and watched National Lampoon's Vacation or Blazing Saddles.
There were a few years when we didn't make it to Austin. Our friends moved to Florida for a few years, when I was in middle school. They came back when I was 14 and we made 4 more trips. But as the kids grew up, we had school and work to annoy our holiday. And as the adults hit their 50s, they began to slow down a bit. So the trips came to a gradual end.
Sadly, in 2000, the husband of that family lost his life to cancer. There hasn't been a trip since. Each year since his death we've struggled to find a new routine, something that can accommodate the parents' desire to relax and the kids' desire to go go go. Funny, the kids are now the same age as the parents were when they started this coveted 4th of July tradition. Maybe it's time for us to take the torch. For us to pick up the toobs, patch them, load the truck, prepare the food, pack the coolers...
So much work, but the memories are priceless. They'll be in my heart this year. Maybe next year I'll be grown-up enough to put the Electric-Picnic back on the calendar.
This time of year brings back a lot of memories for me. When I was growing up, my parents and I would go to visit family friends in Austin for the 4th.
We'd go toobing down the San Marcos on the 3rd. But not tourist toobing. We'd bring our own toobs and sail way past the last pick-up spot for the rental companies. Then we'd enjoy the serene environment of a river void of randy revelers. Lunch would commence around 2 by a waterfall. The trip concluded with a quick pass over some fun rapids. Us kids would paddle down the river to get away from our parents, which in turn gave us an extra 10 minutes or so at the end of our trip to make repeated jumps off a bridge and swim. The fireflies would come blinking out of the trees just as our parents drifted in. We'd pack up, head home, shower, then enjoy gobs of food while we played board games and nursed our sunburns.
On the 4th, we'd go to downtown Austin to watch the fireworks by the Colorado River. When I was 3 I called it the "Electric Picnic" and the name stuck. We even had t-shirts made for us one year.
The symphony would play all day. And someone always came by and handed out annual frisbees to everyone. When I was really young, we'd drag food, chairs and blankets down a hill to pick out a prime spot next to the river. But when I was about 8, I think, my parents bought a motorhome. We'd park that puppy in the morning and enjoy air conditioning, video games, movies and frozen drinks for the rest of the day. Once in a while we'd take a cardboard-box ride down the hill.
We'd enjoy the symphony in the afternoon, and the kids would get increasinly antsy as the fireworks display neared. Those sunsets of my childhood were the longest of my lifetime.
After the fireworks, we'd pack up and get ready for Part 2 of our celebration. With hundreds of dollars of fireworks packed in the car, we'd head outside the city limits and create our own show. And they really were shows, especially when we'd get a defective firework, set a patch of grass on fire, or nearly put someone's eye out with a bottle rocket gone wrong. Around 4 in the morning, we'd head back home and fall asleep.
Breakfast the next day consisted of leftovers. One year we were crazy and made another toobing trip. But usually we loafed around the house and watched National Lampoon's Vacation or Blazing Saddles.
There were a few years when we didn't make it to Austin. Our friends moved to Florida for a few years, when I was in middle school. They came back when I was 14 and we made 4 more trips. But as the kids grew up, we had school and work to annoy our holiday. And as the adults hit their 50s, they began to slow down a bit. So the trips came to a gradual end.
Sadly, in 2000, the husband of that family lost his life to cancer. There hasn't been a trip since. Each year since his death we've struggled to find a new routine, something that can accommodate the parents' desire to relax and the kids' desire to go go go. Funny, the kids are now the same age as the parents were when they started this coveted 4th of July tradition. Maybe it's time for us to take the torch. For us to pick up the toobs, patch them, load the truck, prepare the food, pack the coolers...
So much work, but the memories are priceless. They'll be in my heart this year. Maybe next year I'll be grown-up enough to put the Electric-Picnic back on the calendar.
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