Yesterday was Independence Day. We went into DC around 1:30 to see the fireworks. It was HOT. Very hot. It was 98 degrees, with a heat index around 105-110. (Note: I still say Tucson was worse, as we’d have days where the temp was ACTUALLY 110-115 or more. Then in July/August during the rainy season, you have humidity on top of that. Oh, and “ Dry Heat My ASS!" to all those who were about to say that.)
We put up our tent right next to the carousel and set up camp. We had 3 gallons of water, an ice chest, food, books, toys, towels…
...and we were miserable. There was NO breeze. It was hot. There were people everywhere. We kept pouring water over our heads, but soon enough it would warm up and then we’d just be clammy and hot. Dominic played in the dirt with his car most of the time. We rode the carousel 5 times for the breeze.
Late afternoon, it began to cool off. Not much, but it was a little more bearable. A group of guys (and a few girls) wearing American flags showed up across the path from us. I talked to one of them for a little while. 
He was from California and seemed to be having a good time. His friends had thrown a 500 guest party the night before. Sounds huge, but in a crowd of hundreds of thousands like were on the mall, it seemed small in comparison.
Earlier in the day, a woman (Indian? Some eastern country, anyway) stopped and talked with us for a while. She really liked Dominic and they played tag a little around the tent. She said she would come back when the fireworks started and watch with him. Sure enough, she came back when it was getting dark, and sat with us for the fireworks. She seemed very nice, but I kept wondering how she managed to cope with the heat wearing such heavy stockings. She had her wrist wrapped up from an insect bite, and her whole hand was swollen. Ick. She said the bug was over an inch long.
Eventually it got to be 9pm, almost dark, and shortly thereafter a huge cheer rose up from the crowd as the first firework exploded behind the Washington Monument. The fireworks continued for about 20 minutes, and they did the star-in-circle ones and heart-in-circle ones, but none of the smiley faces like they did last year.
The digital camera did a fair job capturing them, considering the distance and the lighting. A few came out funny, like the one where it looks like they blew up the Monument. Ha!
Finally they were over and the mass stampede to the Metro began. We had learned from previous years that the best thing to do was just sit there and wait for the crowds to die down, then hoof it to the station. This year they changed the Metro a bit. They eliminated the Blue Line to the west and ran double Orange Line trains. This is good, since the Orange Line is what we needed. Last year it was 12:30 or so when we finally went to the station. We walked up-line one or two stops to get the train before the Smithsonian crowd. There was STILL a huge wait, then the trains were packed and not many could get on… oy. It was really bad.
This year we waited til 11:30 then went to the Smithsonian station on the Mall and went right in. There were maybe 30 people on the platform. We got on the second train and were home just before 1am. Baths for all then to bed…. wow.
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— 06:59:52 PM
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