Hurrah for the red, white, and blue!

Living in Boston and celebrating the Fourth of July makes me really happy. The first few years I lived here, I went to the beach and came back to the city in time for the Pops Spectacular! and the fireworks. A couple of years after that, I decided to spend the entire day on the Esplanade, stake out my spot, and get an up close view of the fireworks. That proved not as fun, but only because of the port-o-potties, heat stroke, and crowds of rude people... the fireworks were still amazing. Well, this year, I decided that I would take advantage of all that Boston has to offer outside of sitting either on the Esplanade or beach all day.

As it was the first sunny day we'd had in as long as I can remember, I left the apartment at 8:30am and began the long walk to the city. I crossed the Mass Ave. bridge and walked down the Esplanade to laugh at the crazies who were out there so early. The line for the security checkpoint to get into the Hatch Shell area was at least a quarter of a mile long. I continued on to Beacon St., where I passed the State House and walked down to the Old State House, where the Declaration of Independence was to be read. The crowd was huge and the microphone not so powerful, so I only stayed for a bit, but the essence of the Fourth was still strong and I was feeling very patriotic.

I journeyed on through Fanueil Hall, the North End, and across to Charlestown. The annual turnaround of the USS Constitution was to take place and I arrived in time to watch them remove the gangplank, ready the crew, and sail out into the harbor. Okay, it was really more of them being pushed by tugboats, but I can pretend right? Just ignore the fact that Old Ironsides doesn't even have its sails raised! At this point, I had been walking for just under five miles and for about three and a half hours, so I needed a little break. I walked over to Tavern on the Water, grabbed a seat that looked over the harbor, and ordered a "ridiculously" spicy Bloody Mary. The Mary was not even close to hot, but the fact that I could watch the Constitution sail in front of the Boston skyline and hear the 21 cannon salute made up for it a little.

Feeling slightly refreshed, I decided I would head up to the Bunker Hill Monument for some of the reenactments taking place there. At this point, the sun was feeling hot and my legs were pretty tired, but I called my sister for moral support and she helped me make the trek up the hill. The festivities weren't taking place for another hour, so I was able to relax on a bench in the shade of the monument and wait for the musket demonstration to begin. I thought for a short time about making the trip up the monument and even started my way up, but after counting 50 steps, I ran into a line of people that wasn't moving and I decided to head back to my bench. I'd only watched a little of the reenactment before Spike called and offered me a ride home. I gladly took it and though he got pretty lost, I was able to meet him in Cambridge and head back home.

The rest of the evening was spent enjoying drinks, friends, and of course, red, white, and blue food. Spike and I were able to take full advantage of our porch furniture and even strung some lights out there to make it look extra festive. He was insistent that we would be able to see the fireworks from the porch, but I knew that the large tree that stands right in front of the porch would somehow get in the way. While he stayed up with the boys, I went with Kim down to Memorial Drive, where we enjoyed an unobstructed view of the best fireworks in the country! I'm consistently in awe of what a great city Boston is and the Fourth of July has, once again, helped to prove me right!