Rendezvous Parade - mid-July

The same day we went to the Museum of the Mountain Man, we also had the Rendezvous parade.  Some of our townspeople dress up to do a reenactment of the original rendezvous, so they are dressed like the man above.  It's a fun parade, and the largest, longest one we have all year.  Rendezvous is a big deal here.  This parade took about an hour to pass by.

The original rendezvous was a meeting together of the mountain men - trappers and hunters, and the traders,

 who would buy their goods.  Indians came as well for the trading.  Like I mentioned before, it was a big drunken party.  But there were also preachers and missionaries that came to witness to the attendees.  ?I was glad to see an emphasis on them this year.

The museum hosts several speakers and special events.  Included is the group above - Native American dancers - the real thing.  We didn't get to see them perform this year, but one of these years, I'm going to make sure we do.  Their outfits are so colorful.

I thought this was a clever float.  It had four different playhouses on it, and was for someone who is running for county assessor.

 This was my favorite though.  It was the senior citizens group.  They have a place called Rendezvous Pointe, where they have very affordable (and very good) lunches and host activities for the seniors.  Their poster on the van said, "It's not how old you are, but how you are old."  The men riding behind them on bicycles must be in their 90's.

 The two kids on this float come to my daycare :)

 One of our local dentists made this super-sized toothbrush out of a broom.  Pretty clever and cute ... until I saw the super-sized syringe he had in his other hand.  Umm, I don't think I'm going there - lol.

 Everyone was passing out popsicles to the kids.  The baby tried one for the first time, and as you can see from his blue chin, he loved it.

The unicyclers are some of our homeschooling friends.  They've gotten more daring in the past couple of years and all have these really tall unicycles now.

 It was a long day.  At the end of it, everyone was pretty tired.  The 3 year old got this stuffed beaver at the museum.  He insisted it was a hedgehog ... still does.

The baby fell asleep on Dad.

Out cold.