FOURTH OF JULY
It was July 4th, Independence Day. On this day, but in 1776, 40 signatures appeared on the Declaration, 39 from the members of the Colonial Congress (3 from each of the 13 colonies) and one from the President of the Congress. The thirteen colonies were one that day, united as America. They had to go through a hard and perilous war to come to this point, but it was worth it. They were free of British Rule, red-coated soldiers invading, and taxation without representation.
Now, 232 years later, we still celebrate this heroic day. Parades weave through the town, the stars and stripes waving at almost every house. Little shops sell little souvenirs. I got a little dragon from one of the shops. But the most famous, the most traditional, the biggest, the best part of 7/4 is the Fireworks!
I had seen many fireworks on TV, but this is the first time I remember seeing them live. They were AWESOME! Red, blue, gold, silver, every color in the rainbow was blasted in to the air. In the beginning it was cool, but as luck would have it, the thick SF fog came in hard on Berkeley, where we were, and the fireworks were completely engulfed with the clouds. Then, all you could see was the sky light up with one color, then another, but not really the fireworks. After about 15 of the 30 minutes of fireworks passed, most people were heading for their cars. It ended up being a he traffic jam that kept us sitting in the car not moving at all for about an hour.
Still, I had a wonderful time. My favorite firework was a series of small but loud explosions going off simultaneously. The result? A series of loud car alarms going off simultaneously. It completely cracked me up. This is to be a Fourth of July to remember!
For more info about FIREWORKS, click here.
For more info about INDEPENDENCE DAY (7/4) click here.
David Xie
July 7, 2008