Forget the 4th, give me a 5th...and leave the bottle

My mother better appreciate me putting Neil "gag-me" Diamond on my blog....

4Th of July. Guess it's a big holiday here...

Dogs are grilled and cows are killed, beer is sold and...okay i rhymed and don't wanna.

But yeah it's the 4Th. Or it was the 4Th...on the 4Th actually is when it was. We did our patriotic duty and bought explosives, only the legal kind though. We went to the river and waited (for 3+ hours) for the big explosives to go off.

As the sunset we all (the entire US I'm sure) took to our lighters (shotguns as well) and frightened all manner of animals and livestock.

I being who I am, having slight pyro streak in me. This is sort of my holiday. I joined the other insane people in annoying parents, and scaring people within the debris field by the reach of my sparks.

After some rather insistent persuading by my "supportive" crowd, I packed up my lighter and tinkered with my camera.



This was one of many people next to us. Responsible they were not. They set the grass on fire, I personally saw 5 times. They let their kids (i was guessing between 6-10) purposely set the grass on fire. Honestly some people...just deserve the stereotypes they get.




This was one of the few fountains they did that didn't set the grass on fire. I was happy about that, since I was in the grass taking the picture.



The people on the house boats gave us a nice show while we waited. It was nice to see all of the aerial fireworks going off in Washington. I'm sure the Oregonians, were plenty jealous. I broke out my lighter for a few more of our aerial shots in watching them. My license still says Washington, so I'm not giving up my cool fireworks for the silly fountains just yet



At around...10:20 at night Fort Vancouver set off the first firework. All the people settled into their chairs and we watched thousands upon thousands of dollars be burnt up inside of an hour.



Within a few seconds it became apparent that I hate holiday's. One, other people rarely share my view or respect of them. Two, they are way too stressful for my liking.



I did enjoy the fireworks, you can't be a pyro and not appreciate explosions in mid air. But...mass murder was so close to happening.



A group of adults to our right, would not shut up. It wasn't even relevant topics. It was about...well, crap honestly. Just idle chatting and catching up talking. There is an awesome display going on and I don't want to hear about The guy who changed your copier toner wrong.



Doing my best to ignore the talking people, I realized that common decency also had gone out the window. Now I realize that we are all set up on a walking path. It's either there or in the river. Not much of a choice.



But really with my camera on a tripod, with the "big-ass lens" out, I'm not blending in. Still every mother's son and dog decided now of all times that they needed to be walking by. Was there an "excuse us" or "..ooh sorry". Nope.



Now I can handle some rudeness, I am American after all. It's our motto. And our Nations holiday, should bring it out with patriotic pride. But come on...when someone sees me taking pictures, see my camera, comments on it to their friends...and still walks in front of me. Second Amendment, here I come.



Now, I am not saying I let it ruin my holiday. Cause I didn't let it, it did it without asking. But it was a great show, as always from the pyro people. It never ceases to amaze me how they get fireworks to...do...what they do. Shapes and patterns, colors and sound effects, if only all weapons of war could end up that pretty.



Shortly after this picture a small group of people...you guessed it walked in front of me. But this time they stopped and watched the firework I was trying to frame. That was it to me. I looked at Chris and shut the camera off. I sat back, devoured my bag of popcorn and sent bad thoughts to the people still talking after almost an hour. I totally don't blame the guy that messed up the copier, I'm sure this schmuck deserved it.

As the finale burst out I made a solemn decision. My camera does not come out next year, unless we go to the fort. It's not worth it to me anymore. I love this holiday, since it is the biggest thing we do here. But people don't care anymore, at least not the casual ones we seem to meet. So next year, it's to the fort with the other devotees of the holiday or far far away.

God bless you land of America. You've fallen further then you think.