I left late today to catch the local small-town fireworks. As I approached the area of interest, I became aware that many of this town’s inhabitants had the same idea. I retreated from the center of activity, parking in the first semi-deserted parking lot I could find. People sitting in the same parking lot with lawn chairs told me that this was probably about as good as I would do. As we began the trek in the general direction we thought we should be going, we could see the density of people and vehicles increasing. Not knowing really where the fireworks show would be, we just stopped at a conveniently open area to wait and see where the fireworks would be.

For some time, we witnessed the occasional fairly impressive pyrotechnic. My son repeatedly asked if that was the start. I told him he would know when it had started.

After a good 40 minutes of standing around in an otherwise unremarkable patch of ground, we saw a rocket go up that was clearly a part of the main event. I was amazed by how quickly that detonation was heard. It was close. Looking down, I saw that the launch location was probably less than 300 m from us. I could see each item from launch to detonation. After a number of items had gone off, I began notice debris falling on my person. Within minutes, my son was complaining about something in his eyes. Not only were we close, but we were as close as one could get without being chased off by security (which I would witness a few minutes later). Overall, it was a great show with a resounding ovation at its conclusion.

The fact that we were passing, on foot, the cars leaving the various parking lots along the way, meant that we had been lucky enough to stumble upon the ideal situation. I am very tired, though, and have to work tomorrow.