witness 4th of july fireworks in DC

Tonight was the night for accomplishing one of my goals (:

That little silhouette against the fireworks is the Washington Monument.

I found a summer internship with the DOJ and confirmed my working dates so that I’ll be in D.C. on the 4th of July. Now I just need to fly up there and watch.

That’s what I kept saying all night. It was incredible. Our friend that works on the Capitol, works RIGHT on the Capitol! See how close we were. Then of course the Washington Monument is just to the right of it from our perspective and the fireworks were right behind it. I have a video of the grand finale. It rained, like torential downpour for an hour or so, but we just went inside in the board room and had some finger sandwiches and watched the storm blow through on radar. And then they had people that went out and dried off the chairs so our butts didn’t even have to get wet. It was so awesome. it definitely was everything I imagined and we had the best time. No I did not photo shop this photo, that’s exactly how it came out the camera. Unbelievable I know.

Hello people out there in cyber space!

Ever since I was a child I have wanted to actually be in DC on the day, I always watched it on TV, but it’s just not the same.

I am happy to announce that this year is the one! I am so excited as if you couldn’t tell by all my exclamation points.

We have friends that live in Arlington and one of them works at a place that is right beside the Mall and apparently they go up on the roof of said building and party and watch the fireworks and they last year had mentioned that we should come and join in the festivities. We can take the metro from their place to said building as said friend does every day for work. Then on Thursday we’re going to hit up some of the museums, one friend has expressed interest in seeing the new Native American museum which as an archaeologist I am totally down for. Then for the grande finale, they have a cabin in West Virginia and we’re going to go out there so the dogs can run around in the woods and we can hike around…oh ad hit up the day spa and do girlie things while the boys drink beer and/or golf or whatever it is that boys do…these guys talk politics a lot…hehehe

I’m so excited!!!!

I live about 15 minutes from D.C. I have seen the fireworks many, many times. It is really a beautiful fireworks show! I think it is definitely worth seeing at least once.

The reason I don’t go every year is because it is a real mess once the fireworks are over. It isn’t bad getting there by metro, but if you ride the metro to get back to where you came from, be prepared to feel like one among a group of cattle being herded into tiny box cars. Some people might find this fun and exciting. I thought it was fun when I was a kid. What is not fun is all the waiting.

Parking is terrible as well. I am not even sure they allow you to drive into the District very late into the day on the 4th of July.

I agree with the person who said to plan for a all day event. You will not have a much trouble finding a good place to sit and you might even find parking. I do warn that D.C. is usually VERY hot on the 4th of July so if you do go early, you might want to stay inside one of the air conditioned museums. However, I have taken the metro just one hour before the fireworks started and I was able to find a place to sit comfortably. Since I know the area, I pretty much know where to go to find good seating (sorry – not giving that away unless you e-mail me personally).

I suggest that if you do stay for the whole fireworks show, and you took the metro to get into D.C., hang around for an hour or two afterwards. Stop by a little restaurant for appetizers or something. Stay on the mall and play ball games. A nice idea is to walk to the FDR or the WWII Memorials and see them at night! They are much prettier at night! Do something to pass the time for a while and then try getting on the trains. It will be a lot more comfortable waiting if you are doing something that you enjoy rather than standing in massive crowds trying to get onto the metro trains.

I will be watching down there with you if you are going this year!

It’s worth seeing it once. They’re quite big and bold.

We arrived a little late as we can walk to the Mall from our apartment, and it was a little too crazy to try to get onto the lawn. Be prepared for an all day outdoors plan.