Biggest Fireworks Display Ever

"Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen."  ~  Mark Twain

 

The 4th of July is a day fireworks are legal in many states but not in all.  It used to be people in Oregon would cross over into Washington to purchase the fireworks.  The big ones weren’t legal or for sale in Oregon but they were in Washington.   The laws change with each state and probably even with each county.  We had no idea what the law was in Washington state now but figured it was probably much stricter than it had been when we lived here over 20 years ago.  Not so.

Tammi and her family arrived early and staked their claim on a perfect spot.

We have been to some pretty gigantic firework displays.  Vancouver’s display used to be advertised as the biggest fireworks display west of the Mississippi.  It was huge and seemed to go on forever and ever.  Fighting the crowds and getting a good parking spot was the difficult part.  It’s still a huge display and a few years ago we watched it from the middle of the Columbia River on the Portland Spirit Steamboat.  It was amazing.

Groups were just starting to arrive.  They parked at the edge of the river to wait until dusk to light off massive displays of fireworks.

We’ve also been to other huge explosive events in Arizona and Texas.  This year it was different.  When the kids invited us to join them to watch the fireworks we thought we were going to watch the city of Kalama’s celebration.  Now Kalama isn’t a large town so we should have known better.  Matter of fact, this town has a population of about 4,000 people so you know it’s not big.  Why would I have thought that this tiny town would spend thousands on fireworks???  I have no idea because they didn’t.  What we discovered is that people head to the Columbia River in Kalama from all around to light off their fireworks because it’s legal there.  Thousands and thousands of dollars are blown up over the river .... just thousands.  We never expected it to be THIS BIG.

There were some that decided to cool off in the very cool Columbia River.  Sandi was one of them.

The Columbia River runs through this little town separating Oregon and Washington.   The crowd attending the fireworks has grown over the years but compared to other places it's not even a crowd.  It's packed but nothing like fighting the crowds in big cities.  News of the event is probably just passed by word of mouth from one person to another.

And, then it was time!

When we found out it wasn’t a big display put on by the city, we were a little disappointed. We thought it would be a dud!  NOT!!  It wasn’t!  Matter of fact, this was one of the best fireworks displays we had ever been to.  In this area you can drive along the packed sand.  Groups parked together at the edge of the river.  Our necks were so busy going left and right watching the fireworks.  These weren’t little fireworks either.  It was like watching the grand finale over and over again.  The only problem we had was waiting for it to get dark enough for the fireworks to start.  We entertained ourselves by playing cards, eating and people watching.  People watching can definitely be an interesting way to pass the time.  We finally got what we had been waiting for close to 9:30 PM.  The sky was lit in every direction.  It was absolutely spectacular.  We didn’t roll into bed until after midnight.

It was a definitely a wonderful day.

'Tis life on the road.