I spent the Fourth of July with my cousins in a sliver of Washington state that doesn't have any rules about fireworks. Un. Real.
As a child of the 70s, I spent my fair share of time in a roadside fireworks booth, usually a fundraising venture for my sister's gymnastic team. I remember bringing my barbie dolls and coloring books along for the ride, sitting on a blanket for hours as the sun set. (I remember constantly being told, "DON'T TOUCH THAT!" too...)
However, what we had last weekend was not your piddly little street fireworks of yore. OH NO.This involved a trip to Boomtown. This involved a family crowd of at least 40 people and some squirrely dude-cousins with a SYSTEM. (As in, they look forward to this all year and they have special platforms built for certain fireworks.They pull them out and assemble them each year, with improvements based on an assessment from the last year, because they are nerds and what is it, but a carte blanche on July 4th to Light. Stuff. On. Fire.) (...somewhat safely, of course.)
We spent a good two hours watching them put on their show because -- "Amuurrrrica! BOOM!!"
And, um, they launched big fireworks several hundred feet into the sky...? This is something that has never been allowed anywhere that I've ever lived -- Like, DISNEYLAND-style fireworks.....?!
Oh, man. You probably should have a special license to launch those, but this one little sliver of Washington is all, "Naw, y'all're cool. Just do us a solid an' keep the fire department on speed dial..."
As a child of the 70s, I spent my fair share of time in a roadside fireworks booth, usually a fundraising venture for my sister's gymnastic team. I remember bringing my barbie dolls and coloring books along for the ride, sitting on a blanket for hours as the sun set. (I remember constantly being told, "DON'T TOUCH THAT!" too...)
However, what we had last weekend was not your piddly little street fireworks of yore. OH NO.This involved a trip to Boomtown. This involved a family crowd of at least 40 people and some squirrely dude-cousins with a SYSTEM. (As in, they look forward to this all year and they have special platforms built for certain fireworks.They pull them out and assemble them each year, with improvements based on an assessment from the last year, because they are nerds and what is it, but a carte blanche on July 4th to Light. Stuff. On. Fire.) (...somewhat safely, of course.)
We spent a good two hours watching them put on their show because -- "Amuurrrrica! BOOM!!"
And, um, they launched big fireworks several hundred feet into the sky...? This is something that has never been allowed anywhere that I've ever lived -- Like, DISNEYLAND-style fireworks.....?!
Oh, man. You probably should have a special license to launch those, but this one little sliver of Washington is all, "Naw, y'all're cool. Just do us a solid an' keep the fire department on speed dial..."
Me and my clump of girl cousins (we're all close in age, so we're always "clumped" together.
Sure, sure -- launch some tin cans 'bout thirty feet into air and let kids catch them with their bare hands. That's an AWESOME idea.
The night ended with these (super dangerous, but gorgeous!) paper lanterns that we lit and released into the sky. I have never done anything like this before. You get a nice fire going on a little fuel pallet and when the lantern gets enough hot air, you simply let go and it floats off into the night sky. I suppose it eventually burns out...? We watched our lanterns float high into the sky until we couldn't tell which were lanterns and which were stars. We were in an open area, so I felt pretty safe about it. I mean, generally, I find fire terrifying; but we weren't close to any trees or rooftops -- that's probably the only reason why I decided to actually hold one of those lanterns while the fire was gaining power underneath (eek!)
We did this as the last bit of fun at around 11pm, when most of the other fireworks in the neighborhood had already ceased. It was so peaceful to watch a bunch of colored lanterns float off into the quiet, ink-y sky.
I didn't take a lot of pictures because I was doing a social media diet over the weekend and my "regular" camera is not very advanced. It doesn't have a flash or any special speeds, like the app on my iphone. I missed having my iphone with me because of that, but I also had a little laugh at my cousins, who were watching the show like this:
We did this as the last bit of fun at around 11pm, when most of the other fireworks in the neighborhood had already ceased. It was so peaceful to watch a bunch of colored lanterns float off into the quiet, ink-y sky.
I didn't take a lot of pictures because I was doing a social media diet over the weekend and my "regular" camera is not very advanced. It doesn't have a flash or any special speeds, like the app on my iphone. I missed having my iphone with me because of that, but I also had a little laugh at my cousins, who were watching the show like this:
Freedom, y'all.
(I probably would've done the same thing.)
(I probably would've done the same thing.)
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