4th of July Memories

I hope everyone is having a nice 4th of July! It’s rainy and humid here and there’s not much going on. In past years my neighborhood has had an informal block party complete with fireworks. Doesn’t appear to be any action outside and lots of the usual suspects are not home so I guess this is an off year. Since there’s not much to write about this years 4th of July I thought maybe I’d regal you all with stories from 4th s past…

The first 4th I can remember was when I was about 5 or 6. We were living in North Tarrytown, NY and our neighborhood held a neighborhood parade and picnic. I remember decorating my bike (still with training wheels) with red, white and blue streamer and getting to ride it on Belwood Ave – the main road into our neighborhood that ordinarily we were not allowed to ride on because it was too busy! After the parade we had a picnic at a big field – there were games and prizes, even a band! It was at this event that I learned that I did not like grilled hot dogs. They tasted like they had been burned! To this day I’m still very picky about the cooking of my hot dogs.

The first memory I have of fireworks was at my grandparents house in Kentucky – I was probably 7 or 8. They had a house on the Barren River Lake near Scottsville, KY. Every summer we went down there and some years we went for the 4th. My grandfather had 2 aluminum Grumman canoes and we used them to paddle our way across the lake to the Lodge to watch the fireworks on the big lawn. I wasn’t a huge fan of the fireworks because they made loud noises that reminded me of thunder and I was not a fan of thunder back then. After the fireworks were over we had to paddle back across the lake to my grandparents dock. It was now dark and there were lots of pontoon boats around and I believe there was lighting and some distant thunder. I just remember sitting in the middle of the boat hiding under a towel.

When I was in college I worked at Camp Joy and inevitably the 4th occurred when we had kids at camp. We took the kids into Wilmington to see the fireworks. We were able to go to a building that was part of Wilmington College’s agricultural dept. We weren’t able to use the building but they had a big yard and a great view of the fireworks, plus we had the place to ourselves and didn’t have to worry about our kids getting lost or disrupting others. We of course got there early and had a few hours to kill before the show so we’d brought all kinds of games and sporting equipment as well as snacks and sodas for a special treat. All day we’d been dodging thunderstorms, and we debated not even taking the kids because of the threat of more storms. It was getting dark and we were gathering the kids for the fireworks. I had all of my 7 & 8 year little girls gathered on a blanket ready when I heard a very loud “freight train-ish” sound coming from behind me. I panicked and told all my girls to get down – which they all did. All of my kids (about 14 or so) were laying face down in the grass when I glanced behind me to see a giant 747 jet just clearing the trees behind me – it had just taken off from the DHL shipping hub just 5 miles from where we were! The camp director saw the whole thing and nearly wet his pants laughing at me.

After college I moved to Oklahoma. We had the best 4th of July’s in OK! One year we had a picnic at one of the church members house followed by homemade lemon ice cream in the parking lot of the Lloyd Noble Center waiting for the fireworks. On the way home I mentioned that I’d never played with sparkers. The other folks I was with found that hard to believe and decided that we needed to remedy this, so we went to a nearby fireworks stand to get some and they got a little overzealous and bought a lot. We headed back to set them off. At this point I must mention that the 4 people I was with were all members of the governering body of our church and served in major leadership roles – all four were also middle aged, with children. In addition OK was experiencing the hottest, driest summer on record, a record that might still stand today. Fires of any kids were strictly prohibited and would likely spread like ummm….wildfire. In addition fireworks were forbidden within the City of Norman (we’d driven just outside city limits to buy them). Add to this the fact that the people’s house we were going to was in a new subdivision – one where all the houses are very close together and one where neighbors would call the cops on other neighbors, esp when they launch illegal fireworks after midnight and run the risk of setting everything on fire. This is quite possibly the most illegal thing I have ever participated in. We did however launch all the fireworks and lite all the sparkers, and we didn’t catch anything on fire and no one called the cops!

My parents moved into their house in Williamsburg just before the 4th of July and we spent the whole day unpacking boxes, not even really aware that it was a holiday. About 8:30 we went out for ice cream at Brusters. While we were sitting outside eating our ice cream we saw the fireworks near Colonial Williamsburg (this is prob “their” holiday since the town was settled during the Revolutionary War) so we hopped in the car and drove over there. We found a parking spot on the street where we could see and finished our ice cream. When the show was over, my dad simply started the car and we drove home – no traffic because all the other folks were still making their way to their cars!

I did a similar “drive by” with the fireworks two years ago when I was in Jackson, WY on the 4th. I’d just finished up with a 7 day hiking trip in Yellowstone and Grand Teton NPs with Backroads and wasn’t flying out until the next day. After I’d gotten checked into my room I’d walked into Jackson and had pizza at Mountain High Pizza Pie – a local joint that was simply bustling with tourists and locals. The tables were long picnic tables that sat 10-12 – I found one that was empty but eventually I ended up sharing it. A nice family came over, a man and a wife and their two little girls. I had a lovely conversation with the man and walked away feeling like I’d made some new friends! After dinner I walked back to my hotel and got myself some homemade chocolate chip cookies (this hotel made them every night for the guests!) and headed upstairs to cross stitch. The nice thing about being in Wyoming is that they are on mountain time and all the late night sitcom re-runs are on during prime time! About 10:00 (gets dark a lot later out there) the fireworks got started. I was able to walk to the parking lot of my hotel, in pjs no less, watch the show and walk back to my room!

Wow I have drizzled on and on…..
What are other folks 4th of July memories?

Happy 4th Everyone! :)