Fourth of July - Washington, DC

The one Fourth of July I spent in DC in 2002, it was so hot I ended up staying home and watching TV. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate heat and humidity. This year I had Shelley to celebrate with me and that meant that I couldn’t sit home all day watching the Law & Order marathon like I usually do on national holidays. I wonder if there will be a marathon on Labor Day – I can only hope!

Members from our tennis group decided to get together for a BBQ at our friend Evan’s home. His roommate Monica is a grill master and I enjoyed my annual grilled hot dog. I made fruit pizza for the first time and it was, if I do say so myself, totally awesome. I also think I won over Tammy as a friend for life – who knew fruit pizza had such diplomatic powers? I had a great time hanging out with my tennis buddies.

Shelley wanted to go to the National Mall to watch the fireworks. While I was not ecstatic about the idea, I didn’t want her to go alone. I also didn’t want to say that I had the opportunity to celebrate the 4th in the Nation’s capital and I chose to sit around and watch TV instead. I did have a couple of conditions on my attendance; first, if it was too hot or humid I could bow out without guilt and second, I wanted a chair so I wouldn’t have to sit on the ground. I am so spoiled.

We almost didn’t go to the Mall because of the severe thunderstorm warnings. However, the rain subsided for a bit and Shelley got the fireworks itch. There were huge bouts of indecisiveness and some good Law & Order episodes coming up, but adventure prevailed. We ended up riding the Metro into DC and arriving about two minutes before the fireworks.

It is always interesting when large, diverse groups of people get together. There was an adorable little boy that just loved the fireworks and made precious comments about each one. Then there were the ladies standing behind Shelley and me – they were either the cheesiest patriots ever or totally drunk; I vote for drunk. They kept shouting, “Happy Birthday America” very, very loudly. I would have to say that my favorite quote from the drunken ladies went like this, “Only in America could you have fireworks like this…except for maybe Communist China.” How true and God Bless America.

Travel tip – when going to see the fireworks in DC go to dinner after the fireworks. Eating out after provides enough time for the streets and the Metro crowds to thin out. This tip came from some locals and Shelley and I were able to have a nice meal and a comfortable ride home.

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Washington Nationals Game

Once again Seabreeze’s many connections have paid off. She hooked us up with tickets to a Washington Nationals game. I have not been to a baseball game since I went to an Oakland A’s game when I was 12 or 13. While I am not a huge baseball fan, I am usually up for a new adventure (especially when it is free).


Seabreeze, Shelley, Lindsay Sanders, and I could not have asked for a better night. It was an ideal summer night: not too hot and very little humidity. I think that was the most remarkable event of the night – a pleasant evening in Virginia. Since it is the first year that the Nationals have played in the new ballpark, the whole arena is very clean and nice. I had a great hot dog and some very good fries; although like all stadium food it tends to leave you feeling sick a few hours later. I think I just tend to get caught up in the moment and all of a sudden a hot dog is the only food that can satisfy you.

The Nationals handily lost the game. The Anaheim Angels were ahead by 6 runs after the first inning. I may not know a lot about baseball, but I do know that losing by that much so early on is rarely a good sign. I do think that the t-shirt cannon made up for the lack of excitement on the field. I had no idea a t-shirt could fly that far!

Seabreeze gave us all a great girl’s night out. I would happily go again, assuming I could insure another night of amazing weather.