Sunny in Seattle (July 4th)

This is my 4th visit to Seattle and I have yet to see it rain. I am beginning to think the whole idea of a rainy Seattle is propaganda, a ploy to keep others from moving to this beautiful place. Or, maybe I’m just lucky. Either way, I have pictures to prove that the sun does actually shine in Seattle. And, this year it was shining brightly on July 4th.

left: View of Mt. Si from our temporary digs in North Bend

The Hippygeek’s cousin was kind enough to let us stay at a house they own in North Bend, 30 miles west of Seattle, where the TV series Twin Peaks was filmed. The house is buried in a thickly wooded area with a view of Mt. Si. It is a wonderfully restful place and only a short drive to the big city.

We were very excited to be in the big city for the 4th of July celebration. The event was held at Lake Union with viewing of the fireworks from Gasworks Park. The park is the site of an old (1906) natural gas plant which became obsolete in the 1950’s. It was purchased by the city and opened to the public as a park in 1975. It sits at the head of the Lake with great views of Seattle and still contains some of the original gas plant structure which makes for some interesting sculpture.

We had read that it was important to get to the park early to get a good spot so, we arrived at 1:00pm. We spread out our blanket on the kite hill facing the city just in time as the park continued to fill up throughout the day with not a square foot left by the start of the fireworks at 10pm.

There were jump castles, climbing walls, food, a band, and a beer garden to entertain everyone during the day but, the most popular thing to do was to fly a kite from kite hill.

A kite making station was provided where you could decorate your own “paper bag” and with help from the staff it would evolve into a viable kite. Kites flew from the hill all day. Even the Dudes were able to get their kites to fly high.

We sat on the hill in the evening watching the sun go down and the lights come up across the city, a beautiful site.

The fireworks show is supposed to be one of the best in the country and now, after seeing the show, I know why. The show is sponsored solely by donations from the community and a new show is custom designed for the city each year. The fireworks are carefully choreographed and synced with music. This year’s show included an eclectic mix of 12 songs from; You are so Beautiful by Joe Cocker to Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra to Stars and Stripes Forever by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops.

I  love fireworks and my favorite part is always the grand finale. Its as if the organizers found a bunch of left overs in the warehouse and decided to throw them all up in the air at once. At this show, every song was a grand finale. I peeked over at the Hippygeek and the Dudes a few times during the show and if they were not wide-eyed with their jaws sightly dropped, the corners of their mouths were satisfyingly turned up.

I don’t have any pictures because I didn’t have my real camera with me and the only way to capture an event like that is to be there.

Earlier in the day I had explained to the Lil’ Dude about the July 4th celebration being a type of birthday party for the country. After the show he said to me “Mommy, I wish that were my birthday party”

“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom” Albert Einstein