How'd Ya'll Spend The Fourth of July

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

I'm deployed on a project in Charleston, SC.  Fortunately, the timing worked out and the wife and kids were able to be here with me. We don't typically do touristy stuff, but it being a holiday weekend on the road, and staying in our nice, cozy home and watching the fireworks at the stadium from our back deck not really being an option, and my personal distaste for crowds- especially the "free event" crowd, I decided to break from tradition.  We did something touristy and mitigated it by getting the paid seats- we watched the fireworks from the deck of the USS Yorktown (decommissioned) in Charleston Harbor at Patriot's Point.  The barge was right in front of us, and it was pretty darned incredible.  Including parking, we were out about $170 bucks which included a full meal and drinks for four plus the seating on the carrier-- and we got to take the real-live, up and down the real ladders, definitely-not-accessible, tour of the ship.

Here's just the grand finale- pretty nice:


www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=o9uzu_gZ8_I

[zibazinski]

I'm so jealous. I wonder if I will ever have a life again.

[lexxy703]

That sounds like a great way to spend the holiday Paul!

I tried to watch the fireworks from my deck but the trees in the woods behind my house have grown too tall & all I could see were the edges of the highst displays.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jul 6, 2015 15:37:00 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

I'm so jealous. I wonder if I will ever have a life again.

Every once in awhile I have to force myself to do stuff like this. I'm excruciatingly naturally boring- but I have kids, so I want them to have some fun.

[alabamagal]

Our youngest (20) is home for the summer and I thought he would not want to do fireworks but I was wrong. Since we moved here in Jan and he is in college elsewhere he knows no one.

He asked to go to see the fireworks. Options were in the city or the suburb closer. We were going to do the suburb but backed out because I trained until 7pm. Couldn't see them from our house so we just watched the city fireworks on TV. Pretty lame.

[andi9899]

I drank beer with my dad and blew stuff up with the kids. It was great. I also had a conversation with my sister about me being tired of paying for everything and her being broke all the time is not my problem. That was not so much fun. But it needed to be said.

[kittensaver]

Friday night we took a large group of family and friends and saw Smokey Robinson at the Hollywood Bowl (complete with orchestra and fireworks).

Saturday morning we marched in our local community parade with a float we helped to design and build . Then we had a BBQ lunch at our house.

After a nap (!!!), we spent Saturday evening at a house party/BBQ with some neighborhood friends, and finished the evening with fireworks out in the street.

Sunday we went to a birthday party for a 15 year old dog. Don't laugh - it was awesome! We drank, played with dogs, BBQ'd, watched the USA women win the world cup in soccer and just generally had a great time.

I'm tired today. I needed to come back to work to rest up LOL .

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

That sounds like an awesome way to see the fireworks up close and personal like you did.

And probably a thrill for your kids as well as a lifetime experience they'll remember.

[Tennesseer]

Jul 6, 2015 15:16:37 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

I'm deployed on a project in Charleston, SC.  Fortunately, the timing worked out and the wife and kids were able to be here with me. We don't typically do touristy stuff, but it being a holiday weekend on the road, and staying in our nice, cozy home and watching the fireworks at the stadium from our back deck not really being an option, and my personal distaste for crowds- especially the "free event" crowd, I decided to break from tradition.  We did something touristy and mitigated it by getting the paid seats- we watched the fireworks from the deck of the USS Yorktown (decommissioned) in Charleston Harbor at Patriot's Point.  The barge was right in front of us, and it was pretty darned incredible.  Including parking, we were out about $170 bucks which included a full meal and drinks for four plus the seating on the carrier-- and we got to take the real-live, up and down the real ladders, definitely-not-accessible, tour of the ship.

Here's just the grand finale- pretty nice:


www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=o9uzu_gZ8_I

Is "free event crowd" a special code for something?

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jul 6, 2015 16:08:15 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

Friday night we took a large group of family and friends and saw Smokey Robinson at the Hollywood Bowl (complete with orchestra and fireworks).

Saturday morning we marched in our local community parade with a float we helped to design and build . Then we had a BBQ lunch at our house.

After a nap (!!!), we spent Saturday evening at a house party/BBQ with some neighborhood friends, and finished the evening with fireworks out in the street.

Sunday we went to a birthday party for a 15 year old dog. Don't laugh - it was awesome! We drank, played with dogs, BBQ'd, watched the USA women win the world cup in soccer and just generally had a great time.

I'm tired today. I needed to come back to work to rest up LOL .

I would like to participate in a parade sometime. Heck- I'd like to just go to one.  I had to work all day on the 4th until almost 6pm on this project.  Wife and kids ran off to see some fort(s) or other.

[buystoys]

Spent several hours on the third making salads (cole slaw, farro and barley salad, and bacon ranch pea salad) for weekend meals, made chocolate peanut butter no bake cookies for dessert, then spent the fourth in the pool while consuming multiple adult beverages with my sister, BIL, DH, and nephew. Grilled some burgers and dogs for dinner (added the salads), and BIL and nephew set off fireworks in our third lot.  Got to see all our neighbor's fireworks as well from our back porch. 

All in all, another fabulous retirement weekend. 

[kittensaver]

Jul 6, 2015 16:49:41 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Jul 6, 2015 16:08:15 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

Friday night we took a large group of family and friends and saw Smokey Robinson at the Hollywood Bowl (complete with orchestra and fireworks).

Saturday morning we marched in our local community parade with a float we helped to design and build . Then we had a BBQ lunch at our house.

After a nap (!!!), we spent Saturday evening at a house party/BBQ with some neighborhood friends, and finished the evening with fireworks out in the street.

Sunday we went to a birthday party for a 15 year old dog. Don't laugh - it was awesome! We drank, played with dogs, BBQ'd, watched the USA women win the world cup in soccer and just generally had a great time.

I'm tired today. I needed to come back to work to rest up LOL .

I would like to participate in a parade sometime. Heck- I'd like to just go to one.  I had to work all day on the 4th until almost 6pm on this project.  Wife and kids ran off to see some fort(s) or other.

Forts are boring. Parades are awesome . We spend six weekends almost non-stop to build our float and I now have shoes and clothes that the paper mache and paint will NEVER come out of, but it was fun and totally worthwhile . We plan on doing it again next year .

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Spent the 4th just chilling. It was a Saturday--turnover day for cottages -- so many festivities were scheduled for Sunday instead.

Tried to watch neighboring towns' fireworks but clouds blocked the views.

Woke up early on the 5th to enjoy traditional 4th festivities all day--road race, bike parade, carnival, cookouts, fire pits, neighbors' amateur fireworks, etc.

[ZaireinHD]

ran back and forth from room to room seeing which HD TV has the better HD between the 55 inch and the 40 inch, while the fireworks with on. 

[swamp]

Went to a parade. Went to a party. Came home. Watched husband blow things up. 

[thyme4change]

Roof top bar overlooking the San Diego Bay.  F#*king awesome.  

[wvugurl26]

In Las Vegas. It's also my birthday. Had a great dinner at Sensi in Bellagio. Then we saw Reba and Brooks & Dunn at Caesars Palace.

[Opti]

Jul 6, 2015 15:37:00 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

I'm so jealous. I wonder if I will ever have a life again.

 You have a life now. Its just not as fun as you hoped. Try to focus on the good stuff, like you married a guy you love and is rich.   That you got married by the water, etc.

[Opti]

Jul 6, 2015 22:23:56 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

In Las Vegas. It's also my birthday. Had a great dinner at Sensi in Bellagio. Then we saw Reba and Brooks & Dunn at Caesars Palace.

Happy Belated Birthday WVU. Sounds like you enjoyed it.

[Opti]

For the first time in several years I did not work. On the other hand I was out sick, so I didn't do much.

But after walking through some family's celebration to and from the laundry room a few times, I was invited to come have some of their food.

So I didn't have to make dinner and got to meet some of my   fellow complex-mates. I also was cajoled into doing a shot of hard liquor. Turned out to be made from the agave plant. Smooth but potent. Very glad the technique involved biting down on a lime wedge after the shot. Amazingly it did not fully kill the sinus infection. (It had to kill some stuff though!)  No fireworks, except I popped by work to Xerox my doctor's note and put into a couple mailboxes. From what I've heard there has been some drama in my absence.

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

Sounds like you had a shot of Mescal - which is pretty much like Tequila.

[weltschmerz]

Jul 6, 2015 16:28:23 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Jul 6, 2015 15:16:37 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

I'm deployed on a project in Charleston, SC.  Fortunately, the timing worked out and the wife and kids were able to be here with me. We don't typically do touristy stuff, but it being a holiday weekend on the road, and staying in our nice, cozy home and watching the fireworks at the stadium from our back deck not really being an option, and my personal distaste for crowds- especially the "free event" crowd, I decided to break from tradition.  We did something touristy and mitigated it by getting the paid seats- we watched the fireworks from the deck of the USS Yorktown (decommissioned) in Charleston Harbor at Patriot's Point.  The barge was right in front of us, and it was pretty darned incredible.  Including parking, we were out about $170 bucks which included a full meal and drinks for four plus the seating on the carrier-- and we got to take the real-live, up and down the real ladders, definitely-not-accessible, tour of the ship.

Here's just the grand finale- pretty nice:


www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=o9uzu_gZ8_I

Is "free event crowd" a special code for something?

Sounds like he'd loathe the Montreal International Jazz Festival.  600 free events.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Is "free event crowd" a special code for something?

It's code for economics 101- if it's free and people can just show up, there's going to be a much bigger crowd. Whenever possible, I like to pay. If I've paid for the space I'm sitting in, there's less ambiguity about whose space it is. Nobody (typically) moving your shit because you left it for five seconds, etc.

[Opti]

Jul 7, 2015 0:50:19 GMT -5 ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ said:

Sounds like you had a shot of Mescal - which is pretty much like Tequila.

Smooth, almost reminiscient of really good whiskey?

[Opti]

Jul 7, 2015 8:53:39 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Is "free event crowd" a special code for something?

It's code for economics 101- if it's free and people can just show up, there's going to be a much bigger crowd. Whenever possible, I like to pay. If I've paid for the space I'm sitting in, there's less ambiguity about whose space it is. Nobody (typically) moving your shit because you left it for five seconds, etc.

Depends what it is, to me, and what's in my wallet.   Imagine Dragons just had a free concert outside of one of the TV studios in NYC recently. I would have loved to go, but taking the train, hanging out in hot weather for a spot until they performed, had the feeling of near future hospital stay for moi, so I missed it.

Free is not always "free", nor is it always packed. Many towns and municipalities pay to host free to resident or anyone events through taxes raised. My county in NJ hosts way too many free events IMO. This year is the first year they actually scaled something down because of budget. Our July 4th celebration all day usually in a park on the other side of town, was scaled downward. No idea how much. Its at least a 6 to 8 mile drive to that park for me.