Sunday, February 19, 2006
SARA Park, Lake Havasu City, AZ - Feb 16-19
Lake Havasu City is probably most famous for the London Bridge, which the city purchased in 1968 for $2.5 million, then spent an additional $3.5 million dismantling, transporting, and reconstructing brick by brick the multi-arched structure over a man-made channel of the Colorado River.
The draw for us was Winterblast XVII "Thunder on the River", the Western Pyrotechnic Association's annual convention. Every Presidents Day Weekend, Lake Havasu City plays host to this 4-day celebration of fireworks. It's a chance for members to attend seminars & build their own fireworks, and for manufacturers to display the latest "weapons" in their arsenal. Every evening there was an "Open Shoot" starting at 5pm. It was strange seeing fireworks before sunset, but that allowed more time for certification. Members must be certified either Class C (if public fireworks are allowed in your area, they're probably Class C) or Class B (the big ones). Members usually give up their Fourth of July holidays to setting up and setting off displays around the country. These guys take their fireworks seriously.In addition to the Open Shoots, there were demos Friday and Sunday, and Saturday was the Public Display. The demos were actually more exciting that the Public Display. Since we were parked at SARA Park, the location of all of the displays, we were able to see every display every night and not worry about traffic before or after. They charge $10/night for dry camping in the parking lot at SARA park for the four days only.
The cats were mostly unfazed by the noise; they were more unsettled by our repeated jumping up and running to the window at the start of the first Open Shoot. Many people with dogs, however, had to either leave early or stay in and try to console the poor animal.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 10:01 PM 
