Love and Fireworks: The Perfect Weekend Combination

          D was lucky enough to get the Fourth off which gives us a four day weekend to enjoy together.  The best way to start an extended weekend is by sleeping in, so we do.  When D was here last year he climbed a mountain with a bunch of other Fellows to watch the fireworks, but he said the view of the actual fireworks wasn't that great.  I love fireworks and this is the first time we'll get to watch 4th of July fireworks together so I request finding a spot on the ground near enough to fireworks to feel them, and he agrees.

          I'd found a website that lists several celebration locations in the greater LA area and D finds another website, so we begin reading reviews and summaries and checking Google maps to see what kind of parking is available.  We narrow it down to three fireworks displays within a 30 minute drive and pick the one with the highest rating in Rosemead.  There is ample street parking so we're confident that we'll have a good trip.  Getting ready and eating a quick dinner doesn't leave us too much extra time, but I grab my camera and we're heading out the door.

Santa Monica Beach: A great way to end a long weekend.

          The first sign of trouble is the traffic as soon as we get into the Rosemead area.  It seems like the entire town is trying to get to the park.  I see one parking spot near the railroad tracks off to the right but the park is off to the left and so should be lots of street parking so at the last minute I suggest we turn left.  Ultimately this was the wrong choice.  We end up parked several blocks away from the park and across a busy street and the fireworks begin as we are still heading toward the park.

          I suppose I should say the official fireworks began as we were walking.  Fireworks are legal in California and families are already setting them off EVERYWHERE.  Imagine the last war movie you saw during one of the most intense shootout scenes where things are exploding and bullets are whizzing past in every direction.  That's close, just replace all that with fireworks and you can begin to see what getting to the park is like.  D has to dodge fireworks that are going off in the streets as we find parking and we make sure to give wide distance around exploding and snapping fireworks as we're walking.  We see fireworks being sent across the street ahead of us and when we get closer we see that it is the brilliant result of drinking while holding a roman candle as the young man's hand is aiming it at the streetlights across the road.  For the first time I am very grateful that Illinois does not allow fireworks.  I am much happier having just a few families gutsy enough to set off fireworks instead of every neighbor filling the sky with explosions.

          People have pulled out lawn chairs and are filling the sidewalks in front of their homes.  We continue walking until we reach the fence at the edge of the park.  We find a great spot where we can see the launching area and we stand watching the fireworks explode above us as the sound fills my chest with that wonderful drumming sensation.  I get some good video and a handful of clear, beautiful pictures, and several other colorful shots.  D makes sure I am happy with this spot before relaxing and enjoying the show himself.  It's nice standing with him at my back as we watch our first 4th of July fireworks together.  The finale arrives and fills the sky with color and light.

The Thriller

          The carnival in Rosemead Park will continue for another hour and a half so we fight the out-pour of people to get inside.  They have the typical Zipper, Gravitron, rocking boat ride, and then something new called Thriller.  I pull D closer so we can see how this ride works.  It looks like an enclosed flying saucer with lights on the outside and in the very center of the inside.  After several minutes the door closes and it spins like a top.  I'd really like to know what's going on inside that draws people to this ride.

A perfect game for a pirate.

          Next stop is the food stall to get the traditional cotton candy.  For the past few years my sister and I have gone to the fairgrounds in our town to watch the fireworks in the grandstands, and then we always get cotton candy and walk around looking at the animals and rides while we wait for the parking lot to clear.  It's time to introduce D to this tradition.  We eat our candy as we walk around looking at the fairway games, rides, and exotic food stalls.  Normal carnival food in the Midwest includes elephant ears, funnel cakes, giant pretzels, lemonade, corn dogs and the like.  Here we see Korean, Thai, and other authentic food stands.  It all smells so good and we're tempted to try something.  Looks like they give good sized portions, too, a full meal's worth!  If we weren't both so repelled by crowds I'm sure we would have bought something.

I love riding the Zipper.

          I grab a great shot of us as we leave the carnival and we return to our rental car to find it unscathed much to D's relief.  Now that we see what the Fourth is like on the ground, we decide to watch them from atop a mountain next year.  We just need to remember to pack a  couple small flashlights.

          The next two days are spent relaxing, getting groceries, and D gets some work done on a paper.  Sunday is July 7th and that is our 2 year dating anniversary so my job is to pick someplace to go.  I decide on Santa Monica Beach since it is the closest beach to us and it has lots of good reviews on Yelp, a website I discovered this summer.  D also wants to go out somewhere nice for dinner but I couldn't decide on a place.  We can pick one after the beach.

          Happy Second Anniversary!  I wake up excited that we finally get to spend an anniversary together.  Last year on this morning I was awoken by the doorbell.  My parents must have been out somewhere because no one answered the door.  I quietly crept to the door and saw a van in the driveway when the phone starts to ring.  I check caller ID and see it's a florist.  I answer the phone and am surprised to hear that the call is for me, not only that, but she pronounced my name correctly so this is no mistake!  Now my heart is starting to pound and I stop caring that I'm in my pjs as I answer the door and run out to the van.  The woman reaches in back and presents me with a beautiful bouquet of red roses, white carnations and beautiful pink lilies.

They safely made it to the kitchen.

          I'm in total shock to the point that I still ask, "Who are they from?"  Of course I knew the answer, but I was so surprised that my brain still hadn't kicked back in.  Thankfully she directs me to the card and I rush onto the porch and sit down on the door mat before my shaking hands drop this gorgeous vase and bouquet.  I grab the card and cover my mouth as my streaming eyes make it hard for me to read the sweet note from my D wishing me a happy anniversary and wishing he was here to spend it with me.  I am so overwhelmed with emotion that I just sit for a few minutes before I am certain that I can get the bouquet to the kitchen without dropping it.  Needless to say I take dozens if not hundreds of pictures of all the flowers.  More lilies bloom throughout the week and it is such a treasure getting to enjoy those flowers, just for me.

          This year my morning treat is getting to wake up next to the man I love, within reach and more importantly within kissing distance.  We decide to wait until afternoon to head to the beach to see if I can get any good sunset pictures over the ocean.

I want to think that is just clouds but I'm afraid it's not.

          We decide to drive in the back way to avoid driving through LA and this allows us to see some of the shorter mountains near the ocean.  As we leave the mountains we can see the smog covering the city and it's hard to imagine that it used to be worse.  Once we are in the city, though, it is harder to notice.  We find our parking garage near the beach and are surprised by how cheap parking is here compared to Chicago.  The first thing we notice about Santa Monica is that it is certainly a city that caters to its pedestrians and the sidewalks are full of people.  It is a beautiful city with a variety of shops everywhere and they all look well kept.

Santa Monica Pier

          After a short hike through the city, across the Palisades Park, and over a bridge over the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) we reach the beach.  There are tall, narrow, fancy buildings lining the ocean front walk and we begin guessing how much it must cost to live there.  We first head toward the Santa Monica Pier to get a view of the roller coaster and Ferris wheel.  It looks so crowded and I think D is relieved when I say that I don't want to actually go on the pier, just wanted to get close enough for pictures.  We head back and pass a live band again.  Finally it is time to take off our shoes and trek through the sand to the water.

          This beach is kept very clean and it probably has 100 yards of beach width that stretches for miles.  We are on a hunt for shells today.  We are going to be painting some models and I want my models to be standing on the beaches we've visited so I'm collecting sand and shells to make their bases look more interesting.  Before we even reach the beach we're finding small shells that will be more to scale with the models... if you pretend they live in a world with really huge clams.  I'm good at pretending, how about you?

          As we are walking on the ocean's edge we continue collecting the small shells we find here and there while also enjoying the sound and view of the waves.  The water feels very cold but the longer we are exposed to it the more our feet get used to it.  I am happy that I brought my jacket, though, the dropping sun  is leaving the sand quite cool, also.  Now and then I find a smooth, round black stone and do my best to skip it into the ocean.  I get a few skips usually.  After a while D hands me another black rock and I skip it on into ocean.  It won't be another week or more before I realize he intended for me to keep the rock... oops.  Thank goodness he doesn't take offense at my throwing his gift into the ocean and just shrugs it off, happy that I'm enjoying myself.

He stood very still for pictures then bolted as soon as he got in the water.

          In Florida as we walked along Cocoa beach my family and I noticed all the tiny snails that live right under the top of the sand.  Remembering this I dig into the sand to see if anything is living right below this surface but I don't find anything but more sand.  As we walk, though, we begin to notice movement under the sand as the waves recede.  I bend down and dig and this time we spot dozens of little sand crabs.  We saw sand crab shells on Cabrillo Beach but here they are alive and burrowing quickly back under the sand every time a wave reveals them.  In the handful of sand I scoop there are several crabs that quickly try to burrow down and run into my palms.  They tickle and the sensation is also a bit alarming so I release all except one.

My favorite picture of the "volcano."

          D and I look at this little crab for a while before finally releasing him back into the water.  Can you tell we really like wildlife and little animals?  We continue along the beach until the sun reaches the tops of the mountains.  I take several pictures and love that the sun's rays look as though they are exploding from the top of a mountain making it look like an erupting volcano.  D makes sure I get all the pictures I want before we head back.  On our way we find an abandoned plastic beach shovel and keep it just in case we need a shovel next time we got to a beach.  We try digging up a beach hopper but we were actually digging into empty holes.

          Santa Monica is all lit up when we get back to the car.  The trees have purple and yellow lights shining up into their leaves.  The ocean spray left us feeling sticky and gross so we decide to head home to have a quiet dinner by ourselves instead of stinking up a restaurant.  D made french toast for lunch and I bought us a celebratory Reeses ice cream cake so we made today special ourselves. Soon we are stuffed and ready to crawl into bed and pass out.  Today was a very nice, relaxing anniversary getting to go for a long walk on a beach together.

Fireworks to end our second year together and a beach to begin our third.  I think we're on the right track.