I lived in the Twin Cities for a number of years without anyone ever mentioning a thing about the fireworks in Stillwater. Maybe most people don’t know, but Stillwater has some amazing fireworks. It is on par with the best fireworks I’ve ever seen. The first time we saw them was 2002 when we ended up in Stillwater on a whim and decided to check them out. We both left thinking the show was awesome. I cannot remember off-hand why we didn’t go back last year, but this year we were able to enjoy them. They last a little under 30 minutes with music accompanying them. Adding to the fun are all of the boats that line up on the water to watch. There are thousands of people that line the shore and vendors even setup concession stands. Warning: getting an ice cream cone right before the fireworks can take quite a while! Anyway, highly recommended for your 4th of July planning in the future.

Two things really stood out to me though while I was doing some people watching before the event. Have you all realized that well over 90% of teenage girls are now wearing flip-flops and a decent proportion of their male counterparts as well. All these girls were walking by and essentially every single one (with minor exceptions) had flip-flops? Who finds these comfortable? Who would ever want to walk a mile in these things. And why are they all wearing them? Perhaps it’s some sort of flip-flop plot to cause some counter-insurgance in the country.

The other thing I wondered is are more people smoking? Sure seems like there are more people lighting up lately than there were even two years ago. Have we gone completely insane?

Of course, one could write-off both of these observations with my sample set. Perhaps both flip-flops and smoking are a craze exhibited only in pickup driving towns with teenagers overloaded with hormones. Perhaps. Or should I say I hope.