What a few days! Boston is THE place to spend the 4th of July!
Our journey began late Saturday night; for some reason, we decided that driving all night was a good thing. Our trip to Boston would take about 16 hours, and since Julie had never been there, we wanted to get there a little early to see things like Cheers, Fenway Park, etc. The hardest part of driving overnight is staying awake when you should be awake, and sleeping when you should sleep. My mom was wonderful enough to allow us to take her car, and her car is more high tech than mine. What does that mean? Basically, it means that her car tells you how many more miles you can go on the amount of gas that is left in the tank. Well, I'm famous for pushing a car to its limit, and this trip was unlike no other. Although I didn't run out of gas (the display said we could've gone 9 more miles), there was a scare since it was about 1:30 in the morning and when we pulled into the rest area, it looked like the gas station was closed!!! I was in a teeny bit of panic mode. Fortunately, it was open, and we were able to get gas, and continue the journey. Crisis averted.
Julie brought with her GPS, which was fondly nicknamed Lola, but Lola must have been confused as to where we were going because she sent us the wrong way for a bit. You know, my mom offered me a road map before we left, and me, in all my infinite wisdom, said we didn't need it. It's very strange; we have phones with GPS, an actual GPS thing, and all we wanted about halfway through the trip was an actual paper atlas, so we could check our progress! I'm sure my mom will never let me live that one down!
Fortunately we made it to Boston by about 2 in the afternoon! (By the way, the first rest stop on I90 in New York is the prettiest rest stop ever! However, I bow to my sister Mary and say she is correct that the cleanest and best rest areas are in Ohio.) Boston is such a great town, but it's confusing as hell to navigate in. Lola did earn some respect from us since she got us to the hotel relatively easily.
We headed to Cheers to eat...what better Boston haunt than Cheers. All of us were starving, and food of any kind was welcome. We walked by the Public Garden, and then went to get some things for the big day tomorrow. And of course, we had to walk around Fenway Park. All three of us are baseball fans, so something as iconic as Fenway had to be seen.
The next morning we woke up and headed over to the Esplanade to settle in for the day to see the BOSTON POPS 4TH OF JULY SPECTACULAR! Can you tell I was excited? I've watched the Pops' fourth of July show for as long as I can remember on the 4th of July, so to see it firsthand was so exciting. They're amazing. We were in line to get in, and what a line it was! Katie and I compared it to Wimbledon, but it was nowhere near as well run (sorry, Bostonians). We finally got it, but not after they searched everything we had, and when I say everything, I mean everything! They took EVERYTHING out of our cooler (which had ice and stuff in it) to check, and then we had to get rid of our aerosol sunscreen and bug spray! That was not on the list of forbidden objects on the website, but at that point it was of little consequence. We went and claimed our patch of the oval...it was much smaller than I had imagined, but people were crammed in already. Many had brought tents for the day, and if we had known we could have brought one, we probably would have to protect us from the sun. It was a hot day, but my excitement kept it from bothering me too badly.
Once we were settled, Julie and Katie went exploring. Many people dropped their blankets and chairs and then left until later that night. I guess we didn't realize you could do that, and I was too paranoid to leave our stuff just laying there while we walked around, so I stayed while they left. Words can't describe how I felt seeing all these people coming together to celebrate our great nation. It was as though we all had a common vision for the day...weird, but good-weird. The rest of the day was spent playing cards, reading, going to get lunch, and trying to stay cool. Throughout the day, they tested the cannons that would be used for the 1812 Overture, and that was pretty cool. We saw the National Guard from all posts of the military which was awesome. Once the sun went away, the evening was pleasant, and people were filling in the oval. There were people around us from all over; mostly New England.
When 8 o'clock finally arrived, we had been in the oval for about 12 hours! They began their broadcast in Boston and the Pops came out and starting performing. It was amazing. They'd play a couple of songs, then go to commercial for the broadcast; during this time, the Pops would play a song just for the crowd that was there. They played Sweet Caroline, ET, and some others. It was great being with all these people who were there for a common purpose of celebrating our great nation. We did a sing-a-long with all patriotic songs...it's funny how those are so engrained in you after all those years of singing them as a child. When was the last time I sang, "This land is your land?" So it was fantastic. Of course this was all a buildup to the 1812 Overture. I forgot how long the song actually is until you get to the part which is shown on TV in Chicago. It was overwhelming to be there, with the Pops playing and the cannons being shot in the background. Wow!!
After the overture, many people started to head to the banks of the Charles River to see the fireworks, but there was no way I was leaving until I heard "Stars and Stripes Forever." I think Katie said it best that we could see fireworks anywhere, but how often would we see the Pops? If I had my way, I'd be there every year, but I suppose that won't be able to happen. There was another sing-a-long, and then came the grand finale with Sousa. All in all, a great time to celebrate our great nation!
