Boston on the Fourth

So the Fourth of July in Boston is, in a word, awesome. If you learn nothing else from this post, learn this.

This was only my third Fourth (heehee) in Boston, since the other years I’ve technically lived in Boston I was in London, Arkansas, Germany, Utah, and Boise. ‘Twas so delightful to stay here this year. On Saturday I met up with friends at the Boston Pops dress rehearsal; it’s FREE (though you have to get there at least 4.5 hours early and wait in the hot hot hot sun [bring games and water]) and it was great fun to sing all those patriotic songs while fireworks went off (in-concert fireworks new this year). I especially had a great time ordering around my good friend TTJ, who is Finnish  (“CLAP, Finn!” “STAND, Finn!” [good thing he has such a great sense of humor]), lest he show insufficient respect for America. And there are always CANNONS during the 1812 Overture. (Yes, cannons. And did I mention REAL CANNONS? I want to fire a cannon. Or be fired from one, as long as there’s a soft landing surface.)

And the Fourth was just as good. The reason for going to the dress rehearsal (besides [slightly] fewer people [though once you get over 500,000, what difference do a few more thousand make?]) is that the fireworks aren’t visible from the concert venue. I again met up with friends including TTJ the Finn to watch the (spectacular, as always) fireworks over the Charles. During the patriotic sing-along I cheerfully fed lyrics machine-gun-style to TTJ, who had a program on Saturday night but not Sunday. “This land is your laaaand [thislandismyland] – this land is myyyy laaaand [fromCaliforniatotheNewYorkisland] – from Califoooorniaaaa…”

After the fireworks we walked with several hundred thousand of our closest friends along the river for a while, watching the stuffed-to-bursting subway cars cross the Longfellow Bridge and folks who were slogging through traffic (lots of people + small space = get comfy sitting there, dude). I finally got home at about 12:45 AM… and I beat everyone else by over an hour. Good thing none of us had to work the next day.

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So, reading back through this post, I fear that I have not adequately conveyed the Boston Fourth of July. This may be beyond my capabilities as a writer. I also regret that my camera broke 8 months ago and I haven’t fixed or replaced it, so I have no photographic evidence. I guess you’ll all just have to come see for yourself next year. (That’s a hint.)

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