I did have an urge to go streaking through the national mall area.....
Anywho, my first 4th of July in the nations capital. Ah.
Lyndsy got into town Tuesday before I left for work. Horray! Then, had a LONG night of work running around on my feet. Got home Wednesday morning, showered, packed up our stuff, went to einstein's and then jumped on the metro. We got into dc at the National Naval Memorial. They had all kinds of festivities there that day. We walked around and took pics there and then looked inside some of the museum. Then, we went and found a spot for the parade. The first part of it was really cool.....the second half was boring. It started being this huge mulit-national parade. They had the group of Peru people...with lamas! And all these other groups. Part of me is like, "ya, our country was founded by people of all nations and we should celebrate that...", but the other part is saying, "well, damn. We already have celebrations all the time for other cultures. This is the one day of the year we celebrate AMERICAN culture and history." Whatever. It just shows what dc and the northern states are like. There are many more separate cultures up here that hold onto their past. In the south, it seems that most of the people are decendents of people born in the us, so we are more into our nations pride. I think that's why the south has a harder time understanding immigration and being okay with it. Up north is where immigrants started coming to this country.
Anywho.....after the parade we went and got ice cream and watched the ringing of the bells at the national naval memorial. It's a thing on the 4th of July where every ship in the coast guard and navy ring their bells 13 times for the 13 originial colonies at 2pm eastern time. It's kinda cool.
After that, we went to some of the museums and then into the national mall area. It was like a big carnival with separate tents and stuff of...yep, other cultures. There were no American flags or anything down there. It was odd. There were on the parade route, but not in the mall area. So, Lyndsy and I found shade, got a 5 min nap, ate some pringles, and then met up with Richard and some of his friends. I haven't seen him since early February, so it was good to hear what he's been up to. Soon after, Jessica, Jeff, Tanya, and Phil met up with us right as Lyndsy and I were getting ready to go find a spot by the capital. Well, the 6 of us found a spot on the mall on the backside of the concert, but then they had to evacuate the mall area due to t-storms and tornado warnings and watches. We kept walking around avoiding being sucked into a building. We finally went into the national air and space museum b/c we either had to go in somwhere or leave. Well, they told us we had to stay in there until the warnings and watches cleared....so they had the air force band play. They sounded great, but it was REALLLY loud. We were there about an hr crammed into the small lobby area. Eventually, we asked someone if we could leave and they said through the back doors. We just couldn't go back to the mall yet. OH. So, we went and found a bar and had some food and drinks. Then, ran back to the mall because they had let people back in and we wanted good seats.
We decided the concert by the capital was boring so we'd get good seats by the reflecting pool where they were shooting the fireworks off. We had to walk a long way really fast, but we got a spot on the hill right by the washington monument. There were thousands of people everywhere. It was so great. There was a concert down there as well with Dierks Bently and some other country singers. When the fireworks started, I was speechless. We could lay down and it was the best seat in the house! I even started to tear up a bit in just amazement of where I was and what it all meant. They also had patriotic music playing. Everyone must come to the 4th and see the fireworks at least one time in their life.
After the show we split up and let the crowds go and then walked around a bit. On the way to the metro, Lyndsy and I were walking and heard this huge boom. We both kinda ducked down instintively and turned around and there were a couple fireworks that went off real low to the ground. I don't know if they just were duds that hadn't gone off or what. But, I hope no one was hurt....because they were low! For a split second, I really did think a bomb went off in dc right behind us. It was crazy.
Anywho. Kinda a busy day and very last minute decisions, but once those fireworks started and I could feel the boom in my chest and see the spectacular show, it was allll worth it. Especially since I got to spend it with such great friends. Times like this really make being in the Navy worth it.
Oh, and I didn't charge my camera, so I couldn't get any of the fireworks....soo, those will come later when I get them from other people. I posted some throughout the day of the crammed area in the museum, ice cream, etc.
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