2017-07-04 - Tuesday - Beer and fireworks

Tuesday we went to Sonny's and then down to the park in our neighborhood to watch people shoot off fireworks. It's always quite a show. Unfortunately the phone doesn't catch the explosions as well as the regular camera, but I like some of the effects.

Olde Mecklenburg Copper rings.

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2016-07-04 - Monday - Knights Baseball Game & Fireworks

Catching up... Highlights.

Monday we went to see the Knights game and the fireworks afterwards. It was hot and we lost, but it was still a nice night out and the fireworks were amazing. They went on for almost thirty minutes.

While we broke the record for attendance at the ballpark, many more people came downtown to Romare Bearden Park to watch the fireworks. When the ballpark let out there was so much traffic downtown it took an hour for the cars in our parking deck to move at all.

Our downtown stadium.

Karen and Stephanie.

Happy Karen, and Stephanie.

Tower cranes spring up everywhere here.

We are getting quite a skyline.

I love the panoramic mode.

Our city looks nice at twilight.

We broke the record!

Stuck in the parking deck by a traffic jam.

We had to wait an hour to leave
so we just sat down to wait it out.

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2014-07-04 - Friday - Independence Day

Friday the weather was absolutely wonderful, cooler than average temperatures and very low humidity.  We couldn't remember a more pleasant 4th of July.

We went to the Southend gallery crawl and food truck circle.  We took the light rail thinking it wouldn't be too crowded because everyone was already at the sold out baseball game.  The downtown fireworks were going to be at the end of the game.  Apparently a LOT of people were taking the train downtown to hang out and wait for the fireworks without attending the game.

We ate, visited some galleries, and beat a hasty retreat before the crowds would be leaving downtown.

During our train ride I was taken by the beautiful sunset, but couldn't snap a good photo from the moving train.  I grabbed the photo below in the parking lot after we left the train, but it was very much in decline by that point.

We went to TCBY and on the way back we drove through the neighborhood where we kept hearing some loud fireworks.  We followed the sound down to the park and found about twenty families lined up with canvas chairs.  They were putting on some very expensive displays, the kind of mortar-type shells that yield very professional results.  We sat in the car and enjoyed the show, the night, the low temperatures and each other's company.

It was a good evening.

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Monday - Independently Smudged

July 4th a bunch of us met at Clayworks to help Adrienne smudge the studio.  It was the first time I had witnessed a smudging and it was nice to be there for it.  After the whole building got some sage smoke, we celebrated with a champagne toast in the break room.

Later in the evening we went downtown to watch the fireworks.  We found a great spot in a parking lot near the show and enjoyed a good show.  The kid in me still loves fireworks.

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2010-07-04 Sunday - Independence Day

We had a small cookout on Independence Day and our friends the Mullins' and the Kelleys came over.  Unfortunately Lisa Kelley was out of town at a wedding, but we managed to have some fun anyway.  After eating the Mullins family left and someone said, "Let's go see the fireworks!".  We hadn't planned a trip downtown and the show was scheduled to start in twenty minutes but we all climbed into the Expedition and took off anyway.  We ended up a few blocks from Clayworks standing by a fence and we had a great view.

After the show Stephanie wanted some ice cream so we took our whole crew to the Sonic Drive-in and had some ice cream and more fun before calling it a night.

Having fun in the back of the Expedition.

(Christopher (ducking), Meredith, Stephanie, Daniel, Karen (ducking, too))

Tom, our driver.

Stephanie at the fence.

Tom and Daniel fencing.

Christopher and Daniel.

Fireworks!

Stephanie at the Sonic menu board.

Christopher and Stephanie.

Daniel.

Stephanie and Tom.

Christopher and Meredith.

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