Independence Day 2010

This year for July 4th, we weren't sure exactly what we were going to be doing almost until the last minute, so we had to scramble a bit for plans. Cayne's friend, Chris, was in town visiting and learning a bit more about the company and we figured we needed to show him the best DC has to offer while he was here -- including fireworks.

This is the first year Cayne and I haven't lived walking distance from the National Mall, so we weren't exactly sure the best way to plan for metro-ing to the fireworks (driving seemed like a really bad idea, considering the road closures and general traffic dilemmas in DC). We also needed to see the Jefferson Memorial (a promise to Chris all week long, that we hadn't yet fulfilled). So the decision was made to metro to L'Enfant plaza and walk to the Jefferson Memorial since the Smithsonian station was closed until after the fireworks.

Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn out of L'Enfant and ended up walking past the Jefferson Recreation Center in SW DC thanks to Cayne's iphone. Once we got back on track from our scenic detour, we made it to the memorial in time to grab some food and grab a seat to enjoy the 9:10 pm show! Once the fireworks were finished, we waited for the crowd to clear out, spent some time exploring the memorial and the slowly made our way back to the metro station (on a more direct route this time). The metro was still crowded when we got there and we had to let some completely packed trains go by, but we managed to get home by 11:46.