Even after having seen it almost every year since I’ve been down here, it always amazes me just how many people can fit into Gas Works Park for the annual July 4th fireworks show over Lake Union.
While in past years I’ve headed down to the park just a few hours before the show was scheduled to begin, this year Prairie and I decided to make a day of it. We packed up books, munchies, and lots of sunscreen, and headed out to Gas Works Park just about the time they opened the gates at noon. We managed to find a parking spot relatively close, only about six blocks away from the entrance, wandered our way in, and started the process of staking out a spot for the day.
Initially we set ourselves up on the side of the hill overlooking the lake, but I took a moment to go explore, remembering where I’d been the year before. Sure enough, the lawn on the other side of the old gas works looked far more inviting — less people, quieter, and still with a perfect view of the barge that the fireworks are launched from — and we soon moved over there.
The rest of the day was very pleasant. Reading, napping, enjoying the sun, and a lot of people watching. I’d occasionally wander around the park with my camera, snapping random pictures of the families out enjoying the day, then find my way back to our spot to flop back down again. We’d hit Twice Sold Tales on Broadway the day before, so we were both set with reading material for the day — Prairie with a few Stephen King novels and Roald Dahl books, and myself with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles, a fantasy series I’d enjoyed as a kid and have wanted to re-read for a while.
Prairie had also brought along a couple bottles of bubble fluid, which soon caught the attention of a couple little boys seated near us on the lawn. Initially happy to run along and pop all the bubbles they could, soon they decided that they wanted to blow bubbles too, and I suddenly had the younger of the two standing next to me, declaring that it was his turn to blow. I let him blow some bubbles while his brother popped them, then they switched…but it wasn’t long before each of them had appropriated one of our bottles of bubbles and were quite happily wandering around, sending bubbles floating across the sky.
Kites, of course, are always a popular summertime activity, and Gas Works Park generally has the perfect amount of wind for perfect kite flying. While most people lined up on the side of the hill to fly their kites, you could easily find them popping up from among the crowds throughout the park, and we had one little girl just in front of us who spent a good portion of the day flying her kite — or running back and forth trying to get it back up into the air when the breeze died down for a few moments.
Eventually the sun started to set, and the open spots on the ground started to fill as all the people wandering around the park grounds filtered in to find seats to watch the fireworks. The one slight down side to the day was that now that I’m using a fancier camera than my old point-and-shoot, I had to guess at the correct settings to use for catching pictures of the fireworks…and as I found out when I got home, I didn’t guess quite correctly. A slight disappointment, as it was a good display, and I’ve gotten some rather surprisingly good fireworks shots in the past, but not a terribly big deal all told.
Once the show was over, Prairie and I just stuck around in our spot for as long as we could to let the first major crush of people leave. Getting home took a while, of course, with post-show traffic backed up all over the place, but it didn’t seem to be nearly as bad as we’d feared (I’d never driven to and from the show before, always either taking the bus or walking with friends), and we made it home right about midnight, almost twelve hours to the dot after we’d left that morning.
(Interestingly enough, Prairie and I both noticed that while there were Kerry supporters out in full force, there were no Bush/Cheney signs, campaigners, or anything of the like at all that we could see. Not that I’m complaining in the least, I was just somewhat pleasantly surprised by that.)
All in all, a very good day. Hopefully all of you had an equally enjoyable Fourth (for those of you that celebrate it — otherwise, I hope you at least had a good day). And for those of you who get today off of work — I’m jealous!
iTunes: “Magnificat” by Industrial Monk from the album Magnificat (1998, 8:55).