Celebrating the 4th

We celebrated our Independence Day on July 4th. I had hoped to go with my best friend and see the celebrations out at Huntington Beach Pier because they have a reputation for putting on a good show. Unfortunately, my friend had an important deadline on the 5th and said he could not make it. I then accepted an invitation to a “block party” in front of the house, but was a little disappointed. Just as I was getting ready to go out to the block party, my friend called me and said he had finished his work, and wanted go to Huntington Beach after all–and he was calling me from my own driveway. 

When we got to the beach it was incredibly crowded. The cars were parked in a solid line and all the streets at least a mile inland from the beach. Well, my friend is not one to take no, so he insisted on driving through the start and stop traffic to find a good space close to the beach. It took over an hour but apparently miracles do happen -we got a spot at the end of a street looking directly at where the fireworks were being set off –and right at the moment the show started! It was a great show. The best moment came towards the end when the crowd, thousands strong, spontaneously began singing the Star Spangled Banner. The rest of the evening was spent over a late dinner and drinks at a fun restaurant near the pier.

I usually watch the Boston Pops on the 4th of July to get my annual fireworks and patriotic music fix. Going to Huntington Beach meant missing it this year so I missed the little fast one somebody at CBS tried to pull. Anyone who was watching CBS in Boston got to see some amazing shots of fireworks. In fact, the footage was way more impressive than those on other networks as it featured incredible glimpses of the fireworks going off right behind such landmarks as Fenway stadium and the state house. However, some eagle-eyed, geography-knowledgeable viewers began to notice something was amiss. The fireworks were shot off from a barge and for CBS to have gotten some of the shots it got, the barge would had to have planted its anchor right in the middle of the street.

The producer of the show has since admitted faking the footage. Not only has he admitted the little fraud, he’s standing by the choice saying it was OK to do it.

Here is a video someone posted on YouTube of the Huntington Beach fireworks Show -It is from last year, but you get the idea...

Live Long and Prosper.....