Thimble Thoughts: Lake Lure and Hominy Valley

We had several friends and family that asked us to join them for their celebrations and we thank y'all for each invitation, but we decided to spend our Independence Day at Lake Lure and Hominy Valley. We had some wonderful and well needed family time!
Bruce got up to make an early morning run to gas up the car and pick up a few needed picnic items before we left. We obviously left too early for Justin, cause he snored 'bout the whole way up. Come to think of it....he snored the whole way back. lol

Lake Lure

The scenery at our picnic spot...

There's a church steeple there in the trees. It's bells chimed 12 times at noon and played a couple of patriotic songs. That was nice.

There's a very nice picnic area near the marina...

...but we chose a more secluded spot to set up the canopy.

It was right next to a dock on the lake.

This little guy was quite troublesome to his parents. He kept "leaving the pack" and his mother kept quacking him back to his siblings.

Hannah and I loved the way the mallard's tail curled up.

Justin can't go a day without giving me a goofy look.

Enjoying the tranquility.

Bruce and Justin on the dock.

Bruce played catch with the kids.

I played too.

We had a nice time eating our picnic lunch and just enjoying each other. We were glad to see a little rain come to cool things off. While we sat under the canopy away from the rain, Bruce had a time of Independence Day trivia for the kids.

All good things must come to an end. But more fun was on the way. We packed up our belongings and headed to Hominy Valley for the Primitive's annual Fourth of July Bluegrass Festival. It didn't start until 7:00, so we had plenty of time to do whatever we wanted on the grounds.

Bruce took a little nap.

We were three hours early, but we weren't the only ones!

There was a big tent where we set up our chairs. It had rained lightly off and on through the day, so we thought that would be the best place to sit. We were right. Not only was it still very good seats even though it was the back section, we were dry when the BIG rain came. The Lord was good to let the rain come and go before the music began and it really did cool everything down.

My feet.

Time to start!

New Road was the first group up. They were really good. They had a CD sale too. Three of their CDs for $20. By the time Bruce got up there, of course they were wiped out. lol The guy on the banjo was awesome!

The next one up was Mike Upright. He's not really bluegrass to me. I liked it better when he was singing with Standing Tall. I guess he's flying solo these days. He does have a great singing voice.

These guys, The Marksmen, were my favorite, besides the Primitives, of course. The elderly gentleman on the far left was so sweet. He's an original Marksmen.

Enjoying the music.

And last, but certainly not least, the Primitive Quartet. They are so great. Not just to listen to, but every one of them are great to watch. They are so humble. I just love to see them.

Near the end of the night, the Primitives were given a flag that was flown over the nation's capital. They were very honored.

They honored all the veterans on the ground too. First, they presented the colors!

It humbled me to see the elderly veterans being honored, escorted to the platform. I felt very thankful for their service and was reminded of those serving our country, even now.

My veteran airman is under the yellow arrow. lol