Fireworks

Last night, Watoosa and I had dinner at the home of some new friends, and then we walked over to the Back Cove to watch Portland's fireworks display. The display was pretty good, and the bursts of light were reflected in the water. The only drawback was that our distance from the launch spot meant that the explosions weren't very loud. But since our friends had their 1-year old daughter with them, that was probably for the best.

Here are some of my most memorable fireworks experiences, in no particular order:

Independence Day 2004 (Cedar Hill, TN) My extended family traditionally gathers at my grandparents' farm for major holidays, and for the past 25 years or so, we've shot off a mess of fireworks on the 4th of July. During 2004's session, for some reason one of the "big ones" traveled only about 20 feet up in the air before exploding. I got hit with burning fragments in the middle of my chest, on my side, and on my arm. My shirt protected me from the first two, but the last one burned the skin on my arm like you wouldn't believe. I still have a scar. Good times!

Independence Day 2003 (St. Louis) Every year, St. Louis holds a big fair right downtown, and it culminates with the Independence Day fireworks shot off from the river, which means they're framed by the Gateway Arch. But since it's the middle of the summer, seeing the display usually means slogging through the stifling heat while being crushed by the masses of sweaty plebeians, many of whom are shirtless. In 2003, though, one of our friends invited us to watch them from her office, which was in the tallest building downtown. Watoosa was sick that year, so she couldn't go, but I got to watch the show while sitting in a cushy chair in blissful air-conditioned comfort. The view was fantastic, too.

Independence Day 1998 (Seattle) I was studying in Vancouver for a few weeks that summer, and went down to Seattle to visit my friends Nick and Jenn. Nick's parents were in town, and we all took an evening boat tour of Puget Sound, after which the boat dropped anchor in the harbor for the fireworks show (which were launched from a barge not too far away, as I recall). Very nice. The one drawback was that the music accompaniment included Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On." I could do without that.

New Year's Day (Night?) 2000 (New Orleans) Watoosa and I and a dozen friends or so all went down to New Orleans to ring in the New Year. I had been to New Orleans a few times, but never during Mardi Gras. New Year's, I was told, was like all the nights of Mardi Gras crammed into one. I wondered if it would be a bit much (in addition to the worries about the Y2K bug--remember that?), but we had a blast. The fireworks were OK, but this was the first New Year's that I was with a significant other, which means it was the first time I got to start the new year off with a kiss. My friend Steve, alas, was not so fortunate. I offered to plant one on him myself, but that didn't seem to console him.

Bastille Day 1999 (Paris) Watoosa and I got engaged just a few days before in the Luxembourg Gardens, and this was the last day of our trip to Europe. That morning, we saw the military parade on the Champs-Elysees. It was impressive--far more than France's military tradition itself. Since our hotel clerk told us that the fireworks display was held the night before (which made no sense to me), we figured that was the end of the festivities. But that night, we had finished eating dinner and were walking around the Esplanade des Invalides when we heard explosions in the distance. We raced over to the Parc du Champ de Mars and saw one the most spectacular fireworks shows I've ever seen, with the Eiffel Tower in the foreground. It was the perfect end to a perfect trip.