Fantastic Fourth Fireworks

It's that time of year again that marks our independence and time to reflect on how far we, as a society, have come in fighting for our rights. It is also the time of year where summer appears to already be half over! This year, NYC is having beautiful HOT weather, in the upper 90s but thankfully not too humid.

This year was the first year in many that I was not out in the Hampton's with some very wonderful people, but decided to check out the Macy's NYC firework display. About three years ago while watching part on TV, I was amazed how wonderful they were set to music, that particular year they also had the display on the East River, West River and Downtown which was truly amazing be so synchronized like that. This year, the fireworks were just on the West side.

So why this year? Last year on Facebook Cop#1 sent out a message asking if anyone wanted to see the fireworks to let him know. This year, when I was trying to decide what to do - I contacted him to see if he was working again this year, and if so, I wanted to get down there to check it out...could he let me know. He did, so I invited one friend to come with me.

We take the train and start heading over, when Cop#1 says he will come and pick us up. Nice. So we wait and he comes and finds us and drives us down to about 14th street. He escorts us in to one of the piers so we didn't have to wait in line or go through security or anything like that. We didn't get VIP seating or anything, but this was just perfect. He said some people got there at 2 in the afternoon....could you imagine, on a 99 degree day to be waiting and waiting for hours in that heat?? This couldn't have worked out better for us. There was such little waiting time it couldn't have been better.

The show starts and we had a great view. It wasn't completely un-obstructed, there was some sort of building pier, but we were able to see just fine! The barges were between 24th - 50th streets, so we didn't have to hurt our necks looking directly above us. There were 6 barges getting off the fireworks in a row the whole time. About 40,000 firework shells were lit. It was truly wonderful. After I snapped a few pictures, I took a moment to think about what the day was really all about. The show was about 30 minutes.

What was missing, seeing the show live, was the music. I know there was music somewhere down there, I think that Justin Bieber kid was singing, but there was none of that on our pier. Although, I think a few speakers would have been a nice touch!

I am glad I went. I do believe it is something you should try to do ONCE. I don't think I will go back again, unless I have children. The fireworks from the Hamptons are good, as well as the ones that are part of the carnival I mentioned yesterday. But it was a perfect evening with the weather, and we lucked out with timing getting back from the city.