Photo Essay: Fourth of July in Eagle's Nest, NM

I can remember watching the movie The Sandlot and yearning for that neighborhood festival feeling during national holidays. Being born and raised in Orlando, FL, I have never had a proper small town holiday celebration. Yet as I pushed myself through the last of Texas and into New Mexico on July 4, 2007 during my Great North American Roadtrip, an excited feeling rose up in me as I realized I would be in small town New Mexico for the Fourth.

I got into town, which is a small patch of buildings along the highway, freshened up, found my lodging for the night, and then staked out a spot for the big parade. What a spectacle it was! I almost expected Santa Claus to come along at the end. Instead Smokey Bear, who is originally from New Mexico, showed up on a float tossing out pencils to the kids.

People kept coming out of the woodwork and the entire thing was much larger and longer than I could have ever expected. It was a small town with a big pizazz.

Afterwards I battled "parade traffic" that would have made L.A. laugh, on the single road back to my campsite, which was an RV Park in Angel Fire, a town just a few miles away deeper into the valley. Here they were preparing for the big Fourth of July potluck. I brought some store brand cookies, which no one ended up eating thankfully because I was on a tight budget, and ate the other fabulous "home" (RV) made food. There was the small town feel. A bunch of strangers who felt like a new extended family.

Unfortunately due to the extreme overcast and cold, pouring rain, I was unable to go watch the fireworks.

See the spectacle for yourself, and may the Fourth be with you, always.