Fun 4th | Silence Of the Clams

Shaun, Darren & Jordan What started out as a rather ordinary day turned into a very enjoyable holiday celebration.

My neighbor, Darren (in the center), who happens to be a chef, invited me up for a delicious barbeque late afternoon. I enjoyed meeting his his nephew (just moved from NY to attend college) & his friend Jordan.

David I also got to meet and become friends with David, a friend of Darren’s visiting from Chicago.

David is a landscape designer and we started talking plants and gardens right away… and didn’t stop for most of the night. We plant nerds tend to bond quickly.

We made the drive into Seattle for fireworks over Lake Union…. and, after driving up and down nearly every street, were amazingly lucky to find a parking spot just a couple of blocks from our vantage point above the freeway.

It was a beautiful night and we were gifted with an incredible sunset prior to the fireworks show.

Sunset at lake union

I found what I hoped would be a prime spot for photographing the fireworks and set up my tripod. Darren & David found a less crowded viewing area, so I socialized and discussed classical music with Steve, a local resident. We were surrounded by a very international crowd – I heard several languages being spoken, including Russian, Japanese, French, and what I believe was Farsi.

And then the fun began! This was probably the most artistic fireworks display I’ve ever seen…. simply breathtaking. Here are a few of the 300 pictures I took…

Fireworks and Lake union

So what did you do for the holiday? See any great fireworks?

12 thoughts on “Fun 4th”

These pictures are great!! And it’s nice to see a picture of Darren; I’ve not met him yet, though I’ve heard a lot about him (we all owe him a great debt for introducing you to Machiavelli’s). I’m glad you had a pleasant holiday.

Our holiday was nice – mostly a lazy day and then went to a park that overlooked the river where they set off fireworks.

Wow, such breathtaking photos!! I’m glad you could have such a fun holiday too!

We took our family to a parade in Holladay, and then went to the carnival there afterward. We made some little candy stars with the supplies you gifted to us later that night, and did some of our own fireworks together as well (while eating our little candy stars). Then we ate popcorn and watched the Murray City Firework display from our bedroom window. 🙂

Wow, Mom! Those are awesome pictures! What a fun night! Looks like Jen already summed up our day, although she left out the 2 hours she spent reading me Harry Potter book 5. 🙂 It was a fun and relaxing day.

Holy crap, mother. Those pictures are spectacular!! Great job! It sounds like you had a great time, yesterday. I’m glad you were able to hang out with some friends and meet a fellow “plant nerd.”

We went to the Sugarhouse Arts Festival, then went to a friend’s house for bbq, volleyball and fireworks. Fun, fun.

LOL to Brandon – Jen is reading you HP 5?? I’m so excited for you. I assume you are enjoying it? …

You are so talented! I love that sunset picture with all the boats in the bay…amazing. We went to a barbecue at one of Tim’s cops house. There were about 50 people there, it’s always fun to meet the cops and their families. Very very hot and humid tho, I almost passed out.

Beautiful pictures as always. I really must see a fireworks display over water, it looks amazing. We all went out to Ben and Lisa’s on the fourth. Their 8 year old Lainey was babtised, then everyone went back to Bens for a BBQ, games, fun water slid and of course fireworks..I posted a few picts on my facebook page. We had a great time, and ate way too much.

WOW such beautiful pictures. I’m so happy you had a good and fun day with friends.
We spent the day with our friends the Masons. We went to the Aurora park and had a BBQ lunch, Bart was able to visit with some old cronies from his home town.:o) They had old fashioned races ( where they let a chicken loose and the kids chased it to see who could take it home. I think they had a chicken for every age group. Then foot races and they also had lots of booths like the fish pond, face painting, tossing a dime in dishes. It looked to be a great success. Then it was off the see the fabulous patriotic Salina parade. Then back to aurora and had a delicious BBQ at the Mason’s with their family and neighbors. We didn’t stay for the fireworks as we saw some great ones on the night of the 3rd and by then we were anxious to get back to the cabin.
I have to say I really enjoyed the cotton candy I had at the park. I have never gotten too old to enjoy cotton candy :o)

We didn’t get to see any spectacular fireworks like that 🙁 but we had fun camping in a much cooler climate. Sounds like you have some fun friends and neighbors!