From drummers to loud clapping, I have never been a fan of loud noises. My brother was an avid swimmer throughout his younger years, so when it was my time to dive in the pool, my parents took me to one of his meets to see if I was interested. My dad was in charge of shooting the starting gun, and with the big POW, I immediately eliminated the option of becoming an Olympic swimmer. To this day, I still wonder if I had missed out on a completely different future for myself. Knowing this, you can probably guess that I am not a big fan of fireworks, and therefore, 4th of July has never been one of my favorite holidays.
Growing up, I would sit just inside our backdoor and view the Salem, IL fireworks. Eventually, the tree tops grew too tall, so with a little courage, my viewing moved to the roof where I would sit on a blanket, sip Coca-Cola, and eat popcorn. As I was surely becoming the 4th of July reject, I sucked it up one year and attended the firework show with some friends. Before I go further, I must inform you about Salem's fireworks. Unlike big cities which shoot them off one after the other, Salem's consisted of one every 20 seconds (or more). The grand finale is comparable to the normal portion of the show in a big city. There would always be time for discussion: What will the next color be?....Can you pass me the chips?....What is that person wearing? Needless to say, covering and uncovering my ears for 20 minutes was not desirable, so I refused to attend any more shows....or at least that's what I thought.
We returned from our trip to the Outer Banks to spend 4th of July in our nation's capitol. Seriously, what better way could you spend it? PDub, Evens Tyrone, and I metro-ed into downtown, starting our day at the Library of Congress where we proceeded to walk over 3.5 miles in 99 degree temperatures hitting up museums, parades, monuments, and finally Arlington Cemetery. Just thinking about the history that this city embodies and being able to celebrate Independence Day here still gives me goosebumps. We soon returned Evens Tyrone to the airport and prepared ourselves (or really I should say myself) for some loud noises.
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| At the Capitol Building....PDub thinks he's getting business accomplished here.... |
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| Dipping our feet into the World War II Memorial |
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| My new home |
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| Yes, this kid has an umbrella under the refreshing sprinkler. |
Contrary to other cities who were unable to shoot their fireworks off due to draught or other cities who accidently shot them off at one time, Washington D.C. delivered with (literally) flying colors. There's nothing like watching fireworks with only the sounds of the Air Force Band and no big booms. We parked ourselves under the Air Force Memorial within view of not only the fireworks but also the Potomac River, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol Building. It was well worth viewing...loud noises or not.
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| Our view |
July 4th is also my mom's birthday!....so we blew up her phone throughout the day with these pictures....
