Healy-Guttman Blog

Another Gearhart 4th of July

Jul 12th, 2007 by Jack

The 4th of July Holiday has become somewhat of an annual family tradition and Gearhart, Oregon seems to be the easiest place to meet.

In typical festive garb to match the Holiday, Mom poses with Suzanne and me (I didn’t get the memo on patriotic dress…):

This year, sisters Kerry, Lesley and Kathleen all made it to the beach. Suzanne and I were in-between vintage races at Seattle and Portland so we hauled the trailer down after the Historics in Seattle on Sunday night. Mom & Chuck’s yard at their beach house amazingly accomodated not only the trailer but an RV owned by Leslse & John as well. Add to that a house that we rented near the beach access road (and the annual parade starting point) and all the kids - Courtney, Lauren, Erik, Kevin and Bo (along with one boyfiriend and one girlfriend) - were accomodated comfortably.

Our first night before the 4th was spent celebrating Courtney’s birthday and first “real job” after college. She’ll be relocating to Utah and working for the Atomic Ski company. This is pretty exciting for me as I’m envisioning new boards for the upcoming ski season! ….or not…

Courtney (left) and sister Lauren:

I pulled out a few “pre-4th of July” fireworks just to piss off the neighbors:

After the party, Courtney decided bowling was in her future. ….and so we all went along…

Courtney shows off a bowling ball you could spot from the International Space Station:

…and with boyfriend Tommy:

Lesley, Kathleen and Kerry after losing their wad on video poker at the bowling alley… ….and their still smiling:

The next morning was sunny without a cloud in the sky - on the 4th! This was an incredible day at the Oregon Coast. To kick off the Holiday, Gearhart sponsors the annual parade that started just a few feet from our door. I was in charge of libations (go figure) and the whole clan along with lots of friends watched the parade head off down Ocean Ave.

Here’s Courtney (far right) with sister Lauren, brother Erik and nephew Kevin (the little guy):

Mom, Chuck and Suzanne enjoying a Bloody Mary (virgin of course) during the parade:

Lesley & John:

Longtime family friend Bill Beckman with a dog in a cone:

This is the spirit of the Gearhart Annual 4th of July Parade:

Our rental house was 25 feet from this crowd:

Suzanne and Kathleen:

Kathleen and I:

After the parade, John, Erik and I headed down to the beach to stake out our turf - literally. The beach can get somewhat crowded so we found a nice spot, planted our flags, dug our fire pit and put up our canopy.