Summer Vacation–Day 8

Happy 4th of July!
We will never forget this day.
This is the day that we went completely insane. I was to blame, of course, for leading everyone to  believe spending July 4th in Washington DC was a good idea. 
The day itself was borderline hellish. But the beauty of memories is that over time you can shape them to be different than they actually were. 
Moments don’t necessary seem so awful anymore… and can actually become fun memories.

I read a ridiculous amount of blogs, news articles, and comments about the best way to navigate DC on the 4th. The best time to arrive, things to do, where to sit, which Metro train to leave from, etc. I was totally prepared.

And yet, I wasn’t.
I shouldn’t have listened to any of the advice.

We woke up early and arrived at the National Mall 30 minutes early to wait for it to open. Once it opened, we headed to the Lincoln Memorial to plopped ourselves down under a nice shade tree. It was going to be a long day and we wanted to be comfortable. In hindsight, we should have saved sightseeing the monuments for this day. Because we had already seen them all, there wasn’t much for us to do except play games and run around on the grass.

At 11 we walked several blocks up the road to watch the Independence Day Parade.
Jefferson and Reagan waiting for it to begin
   

It started out exciting, with soldiers from every branch of the Government marching.
”What are those?” “What are those?” “What are those?” I would ask Shawn every time a new group walked by.
I think these are Marines? Am I right? 

They even had the Colonial soldiers.


From there the parade went down hill. It just wasn’t what I expected of an Independence parade at our Nations capital. Was I expecting a Macy’s day parade? No. But maybe something a bit more lively. But I kept a cheery smile and tried to enthuse the kids every time another car came by with a random logo on the side. We saw our fair share of high school bands. I think every state was represented.

My favorite was the bike riders.
Check out this 7-seater

I genuinely feel like I need one of these

and one of these

Spotting these guys made it all worth it for my boys! Tonto is walking next to the horse.

We headed back to our picnic blanket and had lunch.
Fireworks were beginning at 9:10pm…. we had a LONG wait ahead of us.

Our campsite (I’m going to call it that because we were there for 12 hours, which qualifies as ‘camping’), was near the base of Lincoln’s staircase. Which is also where a minister of some church propped his speaker system and proceeded to proselyte to the people ALL DAY LONG! I had sermons and scriptures ringing in my ears for hours. Once he would stop talking, his friend would pick up where he left off, so there was absolutely no break in the speaking. I was being driven mad.

My kids did surprisingly well. They ran around the Lincoln Memorial all day long, like they owned the place. We played games. And even took some naps.
 

And in the meantime, the crowds got bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER!
Maybe it was better we had been the 1st ones to arrive. If we had come later in the evening and seen this spectacle, I would have turned and run for the hills. Un-believable!

There were moments when I caught myself saying, “what the heck are we doing.” And my mom even suggested a few times that we just go home.

But we couldn’t. This was a once in a lifetime experience!
And by golly we were going to enjoy it.
Plus, once you invest 9+ hours into something, you just have to follow through.

And, who doesn’t love spending all day running around the National Mall? Kennedy sure did.

 

It was crowded everywhere. Check out the Washington monument across the water pool. The hillside was packed!


Here we are, being lunatics!
At this point my kids could no longer run around. We were trapped inside. No one was coming in, and no one was getting out!

Within moments, it got dark. The 12 hours seemed like it had been only 3 or 4.
People everywhere began to stand, and any empty cement area was filled in with more and more people.

It was almost silent.
And we waited.
And waited.
The sea of smartphones all pointed to the sky. 
Until BAM! 
There’s always a few seconds time between the first blast and the remaining show. I think they put that pause in there so that the spectators can shout and holler.
Everyone erupted.  
Then the show continued. BAM! BAM! BAM!

It was the most Patriotic moment of my life. Sitting there, silently, with thousands of other American’s, watching the 4th of July Fireworks at the base of the monuments representing the Presidents who made this Country successful.
The couple sitting right behind us had just recently been granted citizenship. This was their first 4th of July as American’s.
It had been a long day.
But this moment made it worth it. Grant was captivated. 
 

Sitting where we were, we were the closest people to the fireworks. We were being completely engulfed by them.
I only took a couple pictures, and they certainly don’t capture the moment well. I wasn’t about to spoil the experience by peering through my camera. I wanted to live it, so I sat like Grant, with my mouth gaping open.
 

Oh, I just got so carried away in re-shaping this memory that I neglected to mention where Shawn was.
That’s right. He wasn’t even with us to watch the show. Minutes…no seconds before the fireworks began, Kennedy woke up screaming. Bloody Murder! And she could not be consoled, and she was burning up. We considered all leaving. But that would have been a tragedy.
So Shawn offered to take her away from the crowds. Our plan was the leave during the finale, meet him, then head to the Metro.
So that’s what we did.
We saw only 12 minutes of the 17 minute show. We all stood up, held each other’s hands, and walked single-file out of the crowds. I made a LOT of people angry that night trying to maneuver through them.    
We high-tailed it out of the park and ran, literally RAN down the several blocks to the station. I had my kids run backwards while I held their hands so they could watch the finale. The show as over, and those thousands of people were heading to the station (and some faster than us).
Once we got there, we stood in line and waited. We were at the front, waiting to get on the next train that arrived.
The problem was that we were at a station further along the pathway home. Meaning that once it arrived at us, it was already PACKED with people who had gotten on before us.
As soon as the doors opened, the people said “we have no room.” But, I had to get my sick baby home, so I charged into the train (with Grant). There was no room to place my feet, let alone take a breath of fresh air.

After 6 stops, we made it home.
The rest of the family arrived on the train right after. They were embarrassed to tell me that after Grant and I had shoved onto a full train, they breezily got onto the next. The Metro had supplied them with an empty train to ease the crowds. Well, weren’t they lucky.

What an ordeal!
Would I do it again. NO!

But we officially have bragging rights to have seen the 4th of July Fireworks at Lincoln’s feet.
And that alone made it worth it.

If you are ever crazy enough to go, do not do what we did. Spend a day in the city doing whatever it is you like. Then, around 8:45pm arrive at the Mall. This gives you just enough time to walk to a spot and stand through the show. Then, when it’s over, stick around. Go see the monuments in the dark, while everyone else flees towards the Metro.