170-Just Watch The Fireworks

So for the first time ever in my life I went to Chicago for the big fireworks display. The theater we saw Transformers in was only about a quarter mile or so from the lake and probably another quarter mile or so away from Grant Park. Which is where the orchestra plays and the fireworks are shot off in the lake just a short distance away. We walked up and down the "coast" cursing everyone who had boats. Speaking of...some people's set ups are insane. Full catered meals, wayyy too much booze, grills firing up shrimp, chicken, burgers, and anything else you can grill. It seems people turn this fireworks thing into an all day event. We kept looking for a good place to park it and see the fireworks, but there were probably already 100,000+ people there and more were streaming in every minute.

Speaking of people arriving every minute we ran into my sister out of the blue, and then five or six people behind her was my cousin. It was a very strange moment that felt rushed, because you had hundreds of people coming up behind you, and you just felt like you needed to get out of the way. After that we walked down a pier that had a giant boat docked at it and as we walked past it there was a great place to stand at the end of the pier. So we stood there and waited 40 minutes for the fireworks to start. We had no clue where the fireworks were actually shot off from so when they started and they were right in front of us, I felt pretty good. After walking for so long we had managed to find a good place to stand.

The fireworks are timed with the music of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra who were playing in Grant Park which was just far enough away from where we were to not be able to hear them very well. So when the fireworks started it didn't seem that impressive, but as they went on they got bigger, louder, and brighter than any fireworks display I had ever seen. It was well worth coming down there to see them.

I don't know if I would ever do it again, and if I did I would make a day out of it, but if you live close enough to Chicago it's something you should at least check out once. Kind of disappointing was that the Taste of Chicago was going on just a few feet away, and I haven't been there in years, it would have been fun to check it out. However, where we ended up eating dinner was better than any of us could have expected, but that's another story.