A Capitol Fourth

Well, I completed a life goal of mine this past Friday. I got to spend the 232nd celebration of our nation's independence in Washington DC! 

We started the day off with the 4th of July Parade, which to be honest, was not the most thrilling thing I've ever seen, but hey, it's about the experience, right? :) Then we wandered through the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, featuring Texas, Bhutan and NASA. Don't worry, I didn't understand the connection either. Then we began our search find the perfect spot for fireworks.

Here you can see that we took a break to stand in the World War II Memorial. I couldn't decide if this demoralized the idea of the memorial, but it was really hot outside and others were doing it, so I took my chances.

It rained quite a bit after we finally found our place for fireworks. The rain definitely cooled us off and provided a distraction from the heat. 

After we got settled, the people kept pouring on to the Mall. This picture of the Lincoln Memorial is to give you an idea of the insane amount of people that were there! It was crazy!

And this was our view of the Washington Monument about 100 feet from where we were sitting.

All in all the day was quite an adventure. I loved being around all that history and all the people on such a great holiday. I can't wait to go back sometime for the 4th of July and do it all over again!