FOURTH OF JULY FIREWORKS

I love fireworks. Growing up in Detroit, we rarely saw fireworks. Sometimes we'd see them from our driveway over the trees on the outskirts of our neighborhood. They were miles away, visible yet unreachable. Small and mysterious, they seemed to be otherworldly temporary heavenly bodies flashing in the sky.

Then I moved to Chicago! During my first summer in Chicago, I was driving to Evanston from a visit home to Detroit. I had friends with me...Brenda,Libbo (pronounced LeBeau) and Mike. I think we were in two cars. Anyway, we were on Lake Shore Drive just coming into Downtown at dusk. It was July 3rd, and all of a sudden, the traffic came to a complete standstill. All the cars on LSD just stopped. We got out of the car, and looked out over the lake to see that the annual fireworks show had started! We sat on the hoods of our cars and watched the whole show from ringside seats with excellent parking. When the show was over, we got into the car, the traffic started, and we were on our way.

The next night, we went to a baseball game at Comisky Park. The Detroit Tigers were in town to play the Chicago White Sox. I don't remember who won, but I can tell you that the Fireworks Display that night was incredible. I still remember the colorful, vivid, sparkly, unique fireworks of that night. I think the fireworks were sponsored that night by the Jovan fragrance company.

Since then, there have been many many fireworks in my life. (Take that any way you want). The best ones have usually been on July 3 or 4, though, and they took place in the sky, and in the Chicago area, although I seem to remember that there were some beautiful ones on vacation somewhere one year. There was a July 3 when we went out into the lake on a friend's boat, and the fireworks were literally falling on us. One year we watched from our boat in the harbor, and I got some fantastic photos. Another year, they were beautiful from the Glencoe beach. We watched them from a park or field in Glenview with my in-laws for a few years, but there is something about fireworks over the lake that takes my prize for best fireworks venue.

Last night, I made a plan with my friend Michelle to walk over to the beach for the fireworks. It was a great little beach walk. We saw this fabulous sand castle installation. As we walked along, the dusk was changing into night, and the horizon over the lake was beautiful.
I thought we'd sit on a certain section of the beach, but Michelle said that if we went to another part of the beach, the view would be better, and we'd also hear them. So we got there and the fireworks began just as we sat down. Unbelievable!
They were RIGHT THERE in front of us! It was a beautiful show, and I've got a new favorite place from which to watch our fireworks from now on.
Here is a little look at last night's fabulous finale:


Tonight, on July 4th, we went out on our boat to see the fireworks in Evanston. There were 14 of us aboard, and the weather was cool and the lake was calm. We pulled up to our ringside seat, and saw another wonderful show. This one included a number of mini-finales with groups of fireworks. Just beautiful. Photos and Video will be here tomorrow!