I had never been a big fireworks person, to be quite honest. But around 7 years ago, my parents started making it a tradition to go see one of the biggest fireworks displays in the state every July 4th. It was a familiar town, right next to where I grew up, and at first I grumbled and thought it wouldn’t be fun. But then it became an excuse to invite all my friends along, catch up with everyone, eat fried food, and just generally guarantee at least one big party every summer — along with celebrating our nation, of course.
We got to see some pretty good fireworks displays this July 4th thanks to the Macy’s display for New York City, and a high rise apartment with a great view of the Hudson River where the fireworks barges were.
One thing that was awesome about our location was that we could see the barges where they were actually releasing the fireworks. I hadn’t realized how many “low” fireworks they set off, which we’ve always missed in past years from being at ground level with them.
It made for a nice evening. And, I have to say, watching the fireworks every year for the past 7 years has made me feel a little more patriotic — you can only watch beautiful bombs bursting in air, set to “God Bless the U.S.A.” by Lee Greenwood, before you really start to appreciate all that our country has given us 
