Fireworks

The July 4th fireworks here in Newark, DE, were high-quality. Definitely among the top ten fireworks displays of all time. Which makes me want to make a list, so here we go:

Top Ten Fireworks Displays of All Time

1) Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA, New Year's Eve, 2007. Add thousands of colored lights, the gorgeous conservatory, hot chocolate, sugar cookies, and an array of people having a great time, and you've got the recipe for a great show. The fireworks last about a half hour and are right above the audience. There's hardly anything like it.

2) Shoreline Ampitheater, Mountain View, CA, pretty much any 4th of July. The San Francisco Symphony plays a variety of music, and the fireworks go off above the audience. I've watched it for free outside the ampitheater, too.

3) Coronado, CA, July 4, 1988? I must confess, I like pop songs along with my fireworks display, and San Diego radio had that goin' on. There was a good parade that morning, too, to get us in the Independence Day spirit.

4) Boston, MA, 1999? Again, not sure of the year, but I got to BBQ with BostonErin 7/3 and spent 7/4 on the Esplanade with Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. Don McLean sang. Good times.

5) Lake Tahoe, CA, 2001 (?) from Marta's boat. Why do the years all blur together after you turn 30? Michael Milken shot these off. Proof that you can go to jail for white-collar crime and still be too rich for your own good. At least I got to enjoy a little piece of it...

6) Newark, DE 2007!!! Twenty-five minutes of firework bliss, made even sweeter because we thought they might get rained out. We could see everything perfectly from Kelly and Gina's house on Kells Ave. It was the perfect dessert #2, following a smashing BBQ and epic trifle.

7) Frost Ampitheater, Stanford, CA, July 3, 2005. Superman and I joined legions of Palo Altans to cop a squat on the lawn of the Oval and watch the fireworks for free. We did miss the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, but those fireworks were excellent.

8) View from Los Altos Hills, CA, July 4, 2004. Superman and I met that night (cue violins). He had to leave before the fireworks shows to take someone to the airport. Fortunately, we re-met two weeks later. We could see fireworks from around the Bay Area, very small.

9) Bastille Day 1990, Biarritz, France. I was staying with my host family in their uncle's very hip pad in Biarritz. We were down on the beach after dinner celebrating Bastille Day, and the fireworks were the perfect cap to a unique day in France.

10) "The Neighborhood Dads Firework Show," a real hometown affair, back when fireworks were legal most places. We used to gather the neighborhood and have a block party in front of our house. Every family would bring a box of fireworks, and the dads would set up two ladders and a board. We'd start with sparklers, move on to those snake things, then amp up with a few groundflowers. Things really got going after that. Piccolo Peets, rockets, you name it. Sometimes they'd really go wild and shoot off a pinwheel at the end. One year, a tweaked groundflower leapt off the board and into the crowd. Schoolchildren screamed as the groundflower maniacally burned holes in several beach towels (my pink balloon towel included) before getting doused with water by a savvy mom. I think fireworks became illegal in town soon afterwards, but those were Fourth of July parties to remember.