A month later, and I finally got photos up from the Fourth. Lame, because Independence Day is kind of a big deal in Boston (I still can't imagine why). For the past couple years, we've been fortunate enough to attend a church with people who love the Fourth, and wake up at hours that shouldn't even exist in order to lay claim to a front row view on the Esplanade by way of a 600 square foot tarp, to which they then invite the [REUNION] community.
But for the Fourth this year, being a Wednesday, we didn't think we could manage the late night affair followed by hours of squeezing through the T with millions of other people and still roll into work the next morning. Thankfully, we now have friends who live in MIT student housing directly across from The Barge. With the promise of a great view AND air conditioning, we signed up for the party.
We slept in before turning on the TV for some all day coverage. We just caught the blue angels fly over on screen before hearing the roar out our window. I am sometimes still surprised to find that we're in a city the broadcasts it's own news, as opposed to news from 1.5+ hours away. We took a break for some JP Licks, before returning once again to air conditioning. It was humid.
Before it started getting dark, we rode our bikes to Cambridge to make our later homeward journey more expedient.
Ryan and Kelly are fantastic hosts, and we sat around chatting with lovely people as the local event coverage continued in the background. A few songs before the 1812 Overture was scheduled to begin, we peered out the window to a strange sight. It felt like we were in a zombie apocalypse movie. Large masses of people were shuffling away from the river, filling every large open area. A quick look to the television and we discovered there was a severe storm delay and they were asking spectators to take cover; people at the hatch shell evacuated to the Storrow Drive tunnels.
After another 30 minutes of moody clouds, distant lightning, and settling for the televised NYC show, the storm blew over and Boston started up again. They cut out the 1812 Overture, which always feels like a secret treat for locals since it isn't televised nationally. I was a little bummed, but excited to finally see fireworks. As the first shells exploded, filling the apartment windows with twinkling lights, it finally began to rain, and we again thanked Ryan and Kelly for sheltered fireworks viewing.
We saw some new fireworks (we've heard the industry premieres new fireworks here in Boston) like cubes and lines of red dots that looked like LED strips floating in the sky, along with the perennial favorites like kamuro shells (the gigantic ones that seem to hang in the sky forever).
After the show ended, we said our goodbyes and biked home, weaving through clusters of people, enjoying the rain-cooled night. Until next year, Boston.