Fourth of July in Boston!

Yay! I was finally able to be in the best city in America for the Fourth of July!

And it was everything I dreamed it would be. Lots of crowds. Annoying tourists. Lots of waiting out in the sun. Amazing music. Some good 'ol crazy Boston weather. Incredible fireworks. And a great time!

We began the day by walking around downtown and checking out all the boats and such.

Then it was over the river we went to spend the rest of the evening in Cambridge, looking at Boston.

We settled in at about 3:30pm and got a pretty decent spot! I was surprised by how many people were already there. We were right in front of the fireworks barge smack dab in the middle of the Pru and the Hancock Tower. Only problem was that we were directly in the sun. Because if we sat in the shade then the trees would be blocking the fireworks. It was such a conundrum. But in the end we just plopped ourselves down in the middle of the sun and prepared to be miserable for the next few hours.

And we were right near the Frozen Hoagies ice cream truck. Another plus!

Exactly what we needed after walking around in the blistering sun all afternoon! Unfortunately, it was impossible to eat it all before it became a melty mess, so I was sticky and gross the rest of the day. Oh well. So worth it!

My American flag and my umbrella. The only two things I truly needed that day. (The umbrella ended up being quite useful at blocking the sun and torrential rain pellets.)

The other side of the river was quite crowded as well!

And the sun began to set and more and more people piled in...

Then the National Anthem and flyover. (Which personally I thought was pretty lame compared to the awesome 5 plane Blue Angel formations we'd been seeing all day.)

So festive.

And then we were all told to evacuate. Hah. Right.

We had seen the lightning looming behind us and knew that there was a good chance of thunderstorms all day, but no way were we moving after sitting there for 6 hours. But alas, they delayed the Pops concert and fireworks (while everyone else at home was watching the pre-recorded concert). And they tried to usher everyone into storm shelters.

That wasn't happening. We decided to take our chances with good 'ol mother nature. Sure enough, a half an hour later, things started up again after absolutely nothing happened. Not even so much as a sprinkle of rain. Even though they kept desperately pleading for us to seek shelter because (direct quote here) "This thunderstorm contains lightning."

Really? Really, Boston Police? Did you learn that in 6th grade Earth Science?

So then finally...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAOKNcinDWY&feature=plcp

And after waiting  6 hours in the blistering sun begging for anything to cool us off, the skies finally decided to open up seconds after the fireworks started. Of course!! Still an awesome time though! Despite the giant globs of water that got in our eyes as we tried to look up at the spectacle above.

Here are the few pictures I managed to get before I had to put my camera away to save it from water damage.

And we were pretty wet by this point.

And the grand finale!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kRvcMrn00U&feature=plcp

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July and thank you to everyone who has in the past and is currently serving our country so that we can enjoy the freedoms we often take for granted. We are truly blessed to be living in America. And I am so blessed to be living in the wonderful city!