Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July to all! And to all a good night! And by "a good night", I mean fireworks. :)

No, I'm not going to be on the Mall tonight. Rather, I plan to see the fireworks from the roof of Riverhouse (how sweet is that when you can see such a show from your own home?). The only time I was brave enough to venture down onto the National Mall was in 2004, when Bentje wanted to see the fireworks from the Washington Monument. Every other year, I've been on the Virginia side of the Potomac (except 2005, when I saw the whole thing out). In 2001, though, I did travel into DC, just not for the fireworks. Instead, Will had a friend living on Capitol Hill who was throwing a 4th-of-July party, and we took the Metro in to Capitol South on the one day of the year that Metro decides to fudge the rail lines in the name of "independence." After that, we travelled back to Rosslyn for a fabulous party on the observation deck of his former office building. Good thing we were inside, too, because it poured rain the entire time. (Then there was the sprint from the 23rd floor of that building down to the Metro platform, so as to beat the mass exodus from the National Mall. That was unforgettable!)

I remember as a kid watching the fireworks from the park in Dauphin, PA, when they'd set the Harrisburg fireworks off from the Susquehanna River. Those were always fun, and I was very saddened when they stopped that show sometime in the late '80s. Though nearby Millersburg often shot fireworks from the Susquehanna—except they did so on July 3! Which never made sense to me, because July 3 isn't Independence Day.

But happy recollections aside, may everyone enjoy a happy 4th of July!