Fireworks can still be occasionally heard from across the creek bed and in the neighborhoods near our apartment. The rain has curbed most of the enthusiasm for those trying to get in a few extra 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' before the police start lose their patience. As for Samantha and I, we prefer to watch the organized shows put on by the city of Nashville or Goodlettsville. They are bigger, better and most of all safer than tempting fate with an errant Roman candle.
Our Saturday plans centered around what is becoming an annual tradition for us at the Music City Hot Chicken Festival in East Nashville. Samantha's brother came in from Knoxville to join us for the day's festivities. While we were able to be one of the few hundred lucky festival-goers last year who got a sample platter of hot chicken, this year the crowds had lined up for hours before we arrived. There was simply no way that we were going to get out of there with hot chicken and not end up baked in the sun. We instead opted to walk around, grab a few hotdogs (no line for those), take a few pictures and headed on back towards home.
We dropped off Steven's truck and went on to Hendersonville to look for some camping chairs for the fireworks later that night. Neither Big Lots or K-Mart had any at a reasonable price. We then drove out to the Old Hickory Dam, where I took a few more pictures. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
Nashville's "Let Freedom Sing" fireworks show had to be moved up by 40 minutes to 8:20 p.m. in hopes of missing the rough weather that was rolling into the area. We parked in a church parking lot on the east bank, a slightly worse vantage point than last year, but much less likely to lead to several hours stuck in traffic. The rain knocked out the radio feed and chased us back into the car. We got to see the finale through the pouring rain over the Gateway bridge before hopping on the Interstate to avoid the now-deemed severe weather. We drove down to Murfreesboro to an IHOP to round out the evening.
I hope everyone's Fourth of July went as well as ours did.