Fireworks on the Fourth

I love fireworks. I think most everyone does (well except my dog...and almost every other dog on the planet).

And I am as sappy a patriotic person as you will find. I tear up at the National Anthem. Every time. Yes, really.

But I avoid D.C. like the plague on July 4th.

We did it once. Braved the masses and went down early and scoped out a spot to watch a Capital Fourth. Everyone should do it once.

No one should do it more than once. It is nuts. Just nuts.

But last night my wife had a great idea...let's go watch the fireworks from this side of the insanity.

So we drove down Columbia Pike and parked near my favorite dog park, then walked about 15 minutes to the Air Force Memorial. We figured with the hill it is on, we could get a decent view of the fireworks without having to brave the masses in D.C.

What a great idea! There were lots of people there, but we found a seat and were entertained by the Air Force band while we waited for the show.

Best of all, we got there about 8:15 and were back home by about 9:45. And we got to see all of the fireworks show and listen to a great concert (and from that vantage point, we also got to see all the mini-fireworks shows going on around the city. There were.....lots.).

We also got to see a pretty decent DC sunset.