Special Post - Fourth of July

Celebrating Independence Day in Boston is special because the city of Boston hosts the Boston Pops concert and of course an incredible firework display. The whole spectacle started around eight, so we got to the park space around six. Many of the spots were completely filled. We were lucky, however, when we found a little stretch near the front where we could hear the concert and still have good seats for the fireworks. This event usually draws about half a million people every year. I can understand why. the Boston Pops orchestra, a long tradition of playing on the Fourth, were amazing. The official choir for the Navy also performed some numbers along with Jennifer Hudson. We met up with my dad's cousin's family for dinner. About half way through the Pops concert thunderclouds started coming in.

Suddenly, I guess Mother Nature wanted to celebrate as well, as lighting started to strike everywhere. An announcer came on and told the crowd that the concert (and fireworks) were postponed until the storm passed by. Everyone was told to evacuate and find cover. The main covering was one of the nearby subway tunnels. When we reached the tunnel, it was almost completely full. It was a very strange site. It seemed like a Zombie Apocalypse occurred. Or that an Alien invaded the announcer guy's body and the lighting was just a projection. The aliens wanted to gather us all up and then eat us. Despite all the weird conspiracies I was thinking, we gathered in the tunnel along with everyone else. We waited about fifteen minutes before the policemen started ushering us out telling us the storm had passed.

We listened to the rest of the concert and then the fireworks started. They were absolutely amazing! The whole show lasted about fifteen minutes. About a couple minutes into the fireworks, rain started to pour on us. East Coast rain is very different that Seattle rain. Instead of being a light mist, the drop were big and soaked anything they came in contact with. The rain was pouring down so hard that I could barely see the fireworks. Instead of the rain, raining on our parade (ha ha), it made us and the crowd even more amped up. Someone started chanting USA and soon the whole audience was chanting along. After the grand finale, we exited to leave for our hotel. However, we had to go through a bottle neck to leave the park, a jam packed subway, and a plethora of closed roads. After traveling for a long time, we arrived at our hotel around one in the morning. Even though there were delays and rain, this Fourth has been one of my favorites.