Conquering the D.C. Fireworks

What else would one do for the Fourth of July if you live near D.C.?! Well, if you live in our house, you would crazily choose to go down and see them. Some maybe by default, though. This is our first 4th while living in this house. We thought we'd brave the crowds and soak up the experience...just this year. It ended up turning out quite fabulous.

We are in afternoon church this year, so we didn't even leave the house until 5:30. Yes, that would be a big P.M., not a.m. We chose to Metro it in (versus drive), and get off at the Arlington Cemetary stop. By 6:30/7:00 it was still pretty empty right there. Everyone who got off their was walking across the bridges heading to the National Mall area or down to the waterfront areas. We ended up finding a suitable spot half-way between Arlington Cemetary and the Lincoln Memorial. In this first picture, we would have been found around the corner over on the left side where the mulch, shrubs and flowers are. Those are the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument hiding behind the trees.


We passed a couple hours chatting with our new-found neighbors, eating snacks, snapping pictures, walking around, and catching (the kids' first) fireflies.


And, of course, a great experience watching the fireworks...with the Washington Monument in most pictures.




So, we had a really great time. We'd consider going down again next year, to a similar spot not on the National Mall, of course. Now if we could just magically ignore the beyond jam packed-squished-can't move because you're so-pressed tightly together Metro ride home.