4th of July

So, what's it like to go to Washington DC on the 4th of July??

It's like super-fun of course!

This was our 3rd year attending and we'll probably do it for as long as we live here :)

Is it crowded? Yes, but no more than during Cherry Blossoms season.

Is it hot? Yes, but so are MOST places on the 4th of July.

This year we didn't even go for the whole day. We drove to the Metro station and took the train in, got there about 5:30 p.m. We headed straight for The Old Ebbitt Grill, our FAVORITE restaurant.





Since it was the 4th of July, we went the burger/dog route, of course :) Old Ebbitt grounds their own beef and it's grass-fed!! We had a veggie pizza as an appetizer, YUM! (They do one in the Fall too, same yum-factor, but with fall veggies) Arthur had chocolate cake and I had blackberry cobbler, Mmmmmmm. The kids had ice cream.











After dinner, we walked down to the Mall to find a spot. We had to go through security tents, but the lines were very short. Now beware, the only bathrooms past this point are porta-potties, so make sure you go before you walk in and don't drink too much ;) It was about 7:00 p.m. and we found a nice big spot right by the Washington monument. We spread out a blanket and popped out our activities :) Crayons and Go Fish for the kids, Carcasonne for us!







The two hours until fireworks passed fairly quickly and during that time we found a guy selling the crucial glow up necklaces ;) I'll spare you my pics of the actual fireworks, they are pretty bad... but they were awesome! When they were done, we folded our stuff up and walked out with the other 10,000 people. No pushing, no shoving, plenty of room to walk and breathe. No fights, no drunken idiots or hoards of thug wannabes. Plenty of families, lots of foreigners and a great crowd :) Look! Here's about 6,000 of us getting on the metro to go home! We had so much fun :)