4th of July
So, the 4th of July was quite the event.
Quite the event. (pictoral evidence @ http://natskinner.smugmug.com/gallery/3105367)
The parade was excellent, we had seats across from the stage (a tad too far left, but still very good). Listened to the reading of the Declaration of Independence by Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin (very well preserved, all of them, considering their age!), then some other chatter, then the PARADE!!!!! It was interesting. A lot of high school bands, which got boring after a while, but then you had the 'Piss-off-the-Chinese' section twice - big parade by Taiwan and another by the Falun Gong / Falun Dara folks. The Hari Krishna folks were there too (odd way to end a parade), and a large contingent of Vietnamese. Peru and another L.A. country were there (Uruguay maybe??), and along with the Machu Picchu folks were my favorite.
Then we went back to my place, dropped off our stuff, had burgers at Johnny Rockets in Union Station, came back to my place, and then went to sit in line at 3:30 for the Concert - "A Capitol Fourth". We got there and were only about 50' from the metal detectors. The gates were supposed to open at 5pm for the 8pm concert. At 5pm we were evacuated because of a tornado watch (tornadoes ended up being spotted in Virginia and Maryland I guess). Evacuated into the parking garage.
Now, what should have been a great practice opportunity for the Cap. Police / Metro Police managed to scare the crap out of me. If that had been a real emergency we would have all been dead or injured. They couldn't get people to clear the driveway, or get back beyond the kiosk. Water took a while to deliver, etc etc etc. The list goes on.
So, at around 630 we're cleared to go back out. We end up getting a spot about 1000 feet from the metal detector and standing in line for the better part of almost two hours before we get through. Why even bother showing up early? WHY?
The concert was okay. Little Richard was good. Dierks Bently sucked. Why? Because they had him perform on a stage away from the band, where anyone who wasn't in the center column area couldn't see him. It was really stupid.
Fireworks were amazing and we had a good spot (for being @ the Capitol at least) for watching them. It was a great show!
Quite the event. (pictoral evidence @ http://natskinner.smugmug.com/gallery/3105367)
The parade was excellent, we had seats across from the stage (a tad too far left, but still very good). Listened to the reading of the Declaration of Independence by Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin (very well preserved, all of them, considering their age!), then some other chatter, then the PARADE!!!!! It was interesting. A lot of high school bands, which got boring after a while, but then you had the 'Piss-off-the-Chinese' section twice - big parade by Taiwan and another by the Falun Gong / Falun Dara folks. The Hari Krishna folks were there too (odd way to end a parade), and a large contingent of Vietnamese. Peru and another L.A. country were there (Uruguay maybe??), and along with the Machu Picchu folks were my favorite.
Then we went back to my place, dropped off our stuff, had burgers at Johnny Rockets in Union Station, came back to my place, and then went to sit in line at 3:30 for the Concert - "A Capitol Fourth". We got there and were only about 50' from the metal detectors. The gates were supposed to open at 5pm for the 8pm concert. At 5pm we were evacuated because of a tornado watch (tornadoes ended up being spotted in Virginia and Maryland I guess). Evacuated into the parking garage.
Now, what should have been a great practice opportunity for the Cap. Police / Metro Police managed to scare the crap out of me. If that had been a real emergency we would have all been dead or injured. They couldn't get people to clear the driveway, or get back beyond the kiosk. Water took a while to deliver, etc etc etc. The list goes on.
So, at around 630 we're cleared to go back out. We end up getting a spot about 1000 feet from the metal detector and standing in line for the better part of almost two hours before we get through. Why even bother showing up early? WHY?
The concert was okay. Little Richard was good. Dierks Bently sucked. Why? Because they had him perform on a stage away from the band, where anyone who wasn't in the center column area couldn't see him. It was really stupid.
Fireworks were amazing and we had a good spot (for being @ the Capitol at least) for watching them. It was a great show!