Independence (or, "Ah, We Didn't Want This Stupid Country Anyway")

(That, of course, is a direct quote from my husband.)

This photo is basically how we spent the 4th.

We went to the state park that's near our place--the one where we had our wedding reception, in fact--and stayed the entire day. This was because I wanted to see the fireworks.

I've been trying--and failing--to "go see the fireworks" (at one location or another) since I started grad school.

Since the fireworks display at this park is always incredibly crowded to the tune of blocking up the highways for miles and hours, we thought it would be best to go early in the day and just stake out a homestead.
Even arriving at 9:30 am, it was already full of early picnic setter-uppers. Nevertheless, we found a nice spot under the trees and hauled out the things we had packed the night before.

We congratulated ourselves all day long at having chosen the site that was the nearest to the park general exit, since simply leaving the park after the fireworks often takes hours.

All we did all day was to lie around and read and nap, interspersed with such activities as strolling down to the beach for a little swim, cooking things over the little gas grill, buying an ice cream, and so forth. (It turns out that grilling corn on the cob is actually easier than boiling it, as well as tasting better.)

Probably the most fun part was making breakfast on the grill. Even the water for tea, which TheLimey was pleasantly surprised to discover boils quite well on the grill, just as I had predicted.

We also watched people vainly circle the lot all day looking for parking spots. Or even wander about the site looking for a picnic table. Ha! Good luck.

When evening fell, we packed our things into the car and walked down to the lakeside for the fireworks. TheLimey made the predictable jokes about how, having conquered one individual, he had done his bit in reclaiming the U.S. After the fireworks were over, we read in the car for a little while until the parking lot had cleared out a bit. And that was it--getting out and going home was relatively painless, for the 4th.

The only thing we forgot was to set up the VCR to record the Germay v. Italy game, which was said to be a great one as they go. But we all know how that turned out by now anyway.