Better than I thought

The 4th of July is over and it wasn't as bad as a thought. I had my cheeseburger and corn on the cob and potato salad. I watched the History Channel all day long that was running a great series called "The Revolution" and I love early U.S. History. Then Marshall and I got in the car and headed for the fireworks in Ames. We got there about 7:30, so drove by and scoped out the parking lot which had several people having picnics and 'tailgating', but not too many early birds. So we went thru the fast food drive up and drove by the bandshell park. Everything was done and everyone had disbursed! I was surprised. The streets of Ames were amazingly quiet. So we went back and found our parking spot, shared dinner and then went for a walk to see some of the folks gathered. It was so much fun to walk around and 'people watch'... and when you have a big beautiful golden on a leash people automatically say hi and children want to come up and pet him. Families had picnics, youth were throwing footballs and baseballs back and forth, some families had board games going on in the back of pick up trucks, kids in their p.j.s, one group playing a bean bag toss game, kids on scooters and every nationality (it was Ames after all) you could imagine. And... of course... lots of sparklers, snakes, roman candles, bottle rockets, large sparklers, and various other legal and non-legal fireworks people were setting off. The parking lot displays were a pretty good prelude to the big show. The Ames display finally started at 10 and it was great. Marshall was very aware (but not scared of) all the fireworks and noise around him, but then laid down and slept through the actualy fireworks show. Guess it didn't spook him much. :-)
So, all in all, what I thought was going to be just another 4th to dread it turned out to be a pretty good one. I'm already planning on going back next year... and inviting my family and maybe some friends to bring their coolers and a picnic and lets have our own party in the parking lot. Who knows.