Posted on 07/05/2011 1:24:49 PM PDT by no gnu taxes
Now that 4th is over, I will make my rant.
Don't get me wrong -- I have nothing against the custom. But you have to get there 2 hours early to be able to park anywhere close to an area you can view the event. The show lasts about 30-40 minutes, and then it takes you 2 hours to get out of the parking lot.
I don't have the patience for this anymore. I think last night is the last one I'll be attending.
Heck, I do that already, but its usually coons I am yelling at...and use more than those 4 words....:O)
What kind of coon’s you be yelling at....I yell at them sometime also...
Best Independence day I had was in Kanab, UT. In a park surrounded on 3 sides by red rock cliffs. Straight out of a John Wayne movie (some were actually filmed in the immediate area). The echo of the first aerial bomb set of all the car alarms in the parking lot.
Bridgeport, CA is pretty good too.
My favorite way to view fireworks if at displays over water where I can get to them with my small deck boat from my boat dock.
I stay away from the main crowd that has bigger boats and avoid poor weather nights. As long as I start back to my dock immediately, the larger boat traffic from the main crowd never catches up to me. We had an infant in our family viewing group this year, so we just avoided going out all together, but most of the holidays it is just a little night-time boating with strict attention to running lights for the two miles back to my cove.
You have to get there two hours early and it takes two hours to get out of there?
Boy, do you need to get yourself to a smaller town!
Most places I’ve lived had a city fireworks display that you could easily enjoy from backyard, park, hill or some other location.
I live just a few miles from Disneyland. Every summer evening at 9:25 we hear boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom....
You wouldn’t know it if you drove around here Sunday evening.
I know of at least two “private” fireworks shows, right out in the open, right next to major WV and US highways, in addition to the big ones in our county festival.
Funny thing is, someone sets them off, you’ll almost always hear someone on the next ridge over respond with a volley of their own.
>>The older you get, the less impressed you are by them. I’ve been over them for a long time.<<
Fireworks don’t come anywhere close to watching an AC-47 or a AC130 Gunship performance. They could light up the night sky much better than any fireworks show. Those guns had a very unique whine as they wound up to full speed. The best part about that high whine was knowing the pure hell and serious damage they were doing to the gooks on the ground.
Sounds like somebody has sparklers that fizzled...nothing like “being there.”
One of the best shows in the country is put on by the City ofPittsburgh (actually this year it was sponsored by EQT). Spectacular just doesn’t sum it up. They launch a half hours worth, at the Point (confluenece of Mon and Allegheny-where the Ohio forms) from barges. Amazing views from Mt. Washington above; Point State Park; the West End; any of the bridges; Station Square...etc.
Our little town east of the Burgh does a show, as do the neighboring communities, and almost our whole neighborhood. Fireworks in the sky, in all directions til about 11ish. Smoke so thick in the neighborhood its hard to ‘see’ down the block. So noisy that we have to give our big sheppard mix mutt a peanut butter and benydryl sandwich (so he sleeps thru the ‘booms!) But its only a few hours one night a year. I enjoy it immensely!
The ones in DC had Steve Martin on his banjo for entertainment.
Why feed the beast more revenues anyway? Stay at home, and prepare for the default ahead instead of generating funds for the worthless.
;'}
Your area is not the only one to have "biggest dxxx" contests carried out with aerial pyrotechnic displays.
BTW, there's no way I would ever travel to Gettysburg PA and visit Keystone Fireworks, much less buy a bunch of stuff and bring it back to WV.
No, sir.
That would be illegal.
The heat, the parking, the crowds, all taken care of by watching the three or four Independence Day programs on TV. The Macy’s one in NYC was spectacular, with barges lining the shore and fireworks you could see on the other side of the city. It seemed to have the most patriotic songs, as well.
Let me see if I understand your "rant" properly.
You're upset because celebrating America's Independence is TOO popular?
Too many people want to come together at the Town Square to celebrate John Adams' wish that Americans always commemorate Independence with fireworks ands music?
Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams:The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
So, from now on, everyone BUT YOU will be celebrating America's Independence the way the Founding Fathers had hoped?
-PJ
My town has a free concert with fireworks at the end every year, with a big name singing. We just go to see friends and the fireworks, don’t usually attend for the big name singers. (Wynona Judd this year, Lonestar, Diamond Rio, the Miracles other years)
The Air Force Reserve Band plays first and when the Star Spangled Banner plays, the F-15s do a flyover. The crowd goes wild.
When I lived in Maryland, for several years my parents and I would load up in our camper at 0500, drive 30 minutes into DC and park on street between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. Us kids would run around the Mall, visit the museums, go to the concerts, American Folk Life Festival and parades and wait for the fireworks around 2145. After the awesome fireworks show, we’d pack up and wait in traffic for more than an hour to get out of the city and back to southern Maryland. It was crazy but a lot of fun. I have some priceless memories and photos of visiting DC on the 4th.
Tis better to shoot or drown them...vermin, predators, disease carrying, mask wearing, no good killers of chicken, turkeys and rabbits...:O) can give you rabies if you get too close..
This particular locale was one that is notorious for slow exit. All traffic the park dumps onto a single 2 lane road.
The fireworks were over @ 10:20 last night and my wife had to get up early this morning.
The other show was on Saturday and we didn’t care about getting home late.
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