July 4th in Heber, AZ

For the fourth of July, Jason's best friend, Tim, invited us to go to Heber, AZ. (It's a small town a couple of hours north of Mesa.) It's a tradition for Tim's family to celebrate July 4th there. We drove up, along with Jason's parents, just in time for the parade! The parade is a big deal in this small town. The parade route is actually on the highway! The town blocks off the main highway for this event. Tim's parents reserved a spot alongside the highway around 6 am, and the parade started up around noon. Crazy! But, wow, what a parade! I've never witnessed a wet 'n' wild parade before! This parade is known for the city's firetrucks soaking the viewers with their high-pressure hoses. The highway was lined with people ready to wage war against the parade floats and participants with their water guns. Jason and I left dry, but there were a good number of people who were dripping wet.

The weather in Heber was 30 degrees cooler than in Gilbert. It was nice to enjoy the 70 degree weather, verses the 100 degree weather, for the outdoor celebrations that the holiday brings. After the parade, we drove around and explored Heber. There wasn't much to do, but there were some nice second homes and views! Tim's father was anxious to get set up for the fireworks spot, so he took off around 2:30 pm or so to reserve that location. We were told we had to enter the park grounds before 5 pm to guarantee a parking spot close by. The fireworks were to go off in the high school football field. We walked to where Tim's family all were, and lounged around for 4 hours until the big firework display started. The fireworks were great...and what made it even more fun was hearing the echoes from the canyon rock wall next to us. Jason couldn't believe how close we were to the fireworks. It was the closest he'd ever been to them. It was so fun to spend the fourth with him, his family, and his best friend and his family! Next year we won't wait until the last minute to book a hotel and get stuck staying at the Super 8 Motel in Payson. We're also planning to visit the temple in Snowflake, AZ while we're up there.