Fourth of July

For the first time in a long time, I went to the Doo-Dah Parade. Carina, the twins, and I joined Carina’s uncle and his friend in the Short North for the craziness. The parade was late in starting, due to rain, but was enjoyable enough. Many of the “floats” were very specific to the recently-passed “no smoking” ordinance, but a few groups poked good fun at George W. Bush and his administration, as well as the War on Terror. The crowd was quite large, and from what I could see everyone had a good time.

After the parade, we had a little quiet time at home before going to my parents’ house for dinner. Mike and Jessica joined us, and we all walked down to the Park of Roses for the fireworks. Last year was the first year in my entire life that I missed the fireworks – and that due to rain! – so it was important to me that we get there in time to secure decent seats. The show was a little slow to start (as usual), but had a terrific finale. We walked home along the bike trail through the woods along the Olentangy River. The kids were a little afraid, but took to singing “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” at impressive volume to scare any monsters away! We got back to my parents’ house about 30 minutes after the fireworks ended.

People always ask me if I’ll be going to Red White and Boom, the city’s big fireworks display downtown. I always answer with a resounding “No!”. I can’t stand the gigantic crowd and interminable delay getting home. I went once, with my parents as a kid, and I don’t ever want to go back. I’ll take Whetstone’s display every year, with its reasonably sized crowd and easy navigation.