Yesterday was unlike any other 4th of July that I have ever experienced. As a California transplant, and for any of you that have ever lived there, you know that a usual 4th is pretty subdued* as far as fireworks goes. As I start to recount last night's craziness, I should mention that we decided to stay in the comforts of our own home since we didn't feel like going anywhere. We just thought that we would watch the fireworks on the good ol' tele.
Little did we know, the firework show seemed to come to our house, instead. This all kicked off around dusk when we started to hear popping noises outside which only increased as the darkness fell. Just before 10pm, we decided to go outside with our cheap lounge chairs and parked them on the front lawn. From just about every direction that you can think of, there were (legal -- mostly illegal**) fireworks going off in our neighborhood, which in reality was the closest to a war zone*** that I'll ever be. I went from being filled with adrenaline-pumping excitement to "I'm going to die at any moment -- get me out of here -- I'm a frightened rabbit" in a matter of seconds. At least when next year rolls around, I will be better prepared.
When 10pm rolled around, we were able to view an official firework show in Vancouver across the river, which is supposedly the largest display west of the Mississippi. Our neighbors (thanks for the cryptic tip-off!) had their lounge chairs parked in the middle of the street facing north, and we amazingly had an unobstructed view of the show. They brought along a mini-boom box and played some sweet tunes to accompany the fireworks in the distance -- Toto - Africa, Eddie Money - Take me home tonight , Micheal Jackson - Rock with you, and just about any song that they thought fit the "This-song-really-goes-with-the-fireworks" bill****. All in all, it was quite a night.
* With 1,600 wildfires this past month, I wonder why the laws there are so strict?
** In OR, you are only supposed to be in possession of fireworks that can go 6 ft from side-to-side, or 1 ft in the air. This, of course, did not detour anyone from shooting off the countless M80's and Roman Candle's.
***Yeah, my pants were pretty wet at this point.
****I was sober and still enjoyed the, "Hey -- play that one Caddyshack song (Journey - Anyway you want it)."
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