Imagine...

Imagine the most crowded place that you have ever been.  Multiply that times 3 and that's what Hayward was like this morning the Friday before the 4th of July.  The week of July 4 is the busiest week of the year in Hayward.  Every store and parking lot is jammed with the one-week vacation people, the cabin-owning weekender people, and the snowbirds with a winter home in the South or Southwest.  We have been so busy that we needed to lay in some supplies.  Knowing that it would be crowded, we left the house at 8 am.  So much for that plan. We are trying to smile through all of it.  All the folks from Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa - you keep coming and spending your money.  About 70% of the money in the county comes from tourism.  We will enjoy the area the other 51 weeks of the year.