Happy Independence Day from Our Nation's Capital!

It seemed like an excellent opportunity to celebrate the birth of our nation amidst the historic splendor of the Mall. Although Amy invited me to a BBQ at her house, I opted to fight the crowds and spend the day and evening on the National Mall, because really, when will I get an opportunity like this again? There were so many festivities, including a parade that started in the late morning, but I knew it would be a stretch to spend over ten hours down there, so I arrived around 2 pm and spent the afternoon experiencing the Folklife Festival performances. DC's Folklife centers around different themes each year, and 2011 was the year of Colombia, Rhythm and Blues, and PeaceCorps. It was an odd combination, but I spent most of my time in the Colombia section, as it made me nostalgic for my South American journey. There were some incredible performers, and the audience was filled with Latinos eager to dance cumbias and salsitas. I ate some delicious Columbian stewed chicken for dinner, and was irritated to find Folklife festivities dying down around 6 pm when fireworks wouldn't be for another three hours. I managed to entertain myself with people watching for a bit, but I was starting to get cranky so I ended up heading down to get a good spot at the firework-viewing area around 7.

Looking down the Mall toward the Folklife tents.
Columbian performers--they were very energetic and punctuated their music with clapping and a sort of stomp-dancing, and at one point two of the guitarists performed with each stumming the other's guitar (not a euphamism)!

Carnival music, which had more of an Afro beat, and was incredibly lively!

Crowded; looking toward the Capitol, where there was a huge concert that apparently featured Steven Martin on his banjo (not a euphamism)!

I managed to find a firework viewing spot directly behind the monument, and squeezed into some grass on the side of the road between two families with very busy little children. After a long time, a young girl sitting next to me who seemed to be in 8th or 9th grade asked me if I was here by myself, and we chatted about where I was from and where she was from. Although she was born here, her family is from Sierra Leon. I had heard them speaking creole but didn't know what language it was, and she was happy. The family was four girls, and they were a delight to sit with. At one point, it began to sprinkle and we huddled on their blanket under my umbrella. It was very communal and took the sting out of spending a holiday alone.

No matter how delightful my neighbors were, we chose the wrong spot to see fireworks. Having never been there before, I quickly found that the fireworks explode on the exact opposite side of the monument from where I was sitting. I gave up, though, on moving through the crowd in the dark, and enjoyed them from my original spot.

I sat on the edge of 14th street and as I waited 2 hours for it to get dark, I watched the road fill with people.

The fireworks really were a phenomenal sight! For about 15 minutes, the Washington Monument resembled a NASA spaceshuttle launch. I loved hearing the crowd gasp and ooh and aah. The highlights were the fireworks that exploded into shapes, like a heart. The finally was so explosively overwhelming, there were so many colorful sparkles lighting up the sky and so much smoke obscuring our view but I knew it was awesome.

Somewhat redundant pictures of the fireworks.

Yes, the crowds were terrible and it took me an hour to walk home on tired legs, but it was absolutely worth it. Usually, the Fourth of July feels like it's about family and fireworks and food and beer. Experiencing it from the Capital for the first time emphasized the history of what we were celebrating.