Happy Independence Day!

I will, from this point forward, refer to the 4th of July as Independence Day. The reason is fairly reasonable...I heard someone on the radio express offence at the fact that people refer to the day as 4th of July because servicemen fought and died for Independence and that fact is much more important than hamburgers and fireworks. For me, it's like referring to Christmas as X-Mas or Buy Your Spoiled Kid Lots of Crap day, so I completely understand... UPDATE: My sister shared the definition of X-Mas with me, so I no longer feel the animosity that I once did: "Xmas has been used for hundreds of years in religious writing, where the X represents a Greek chi, the first letter of , "Christ." In this use it is parallel to other forms like Xtian, "Christian." But people unaware of the Greek origin of this X often mistakenly interpret Xmas as an informal shortening pronounced (ksms). Many therefore frown upon the term Xmas because it seems to them a commercial convenience that omits Christ from Christmas"

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On that note, we've had an exciting weekend so far! I even have lots of nice pictures to share! For the 4th...err Independence Day, Erin and I had our own cookout at home. We ate REAL hamburgers (given to us after the smaller-than-expected block party). I, of course, overcooked them, but "hey...better overcooked than undercooked" I always say. We didn't head downtown until about 8:30, but that was good timing, cause we would have been kinda bored after a while anyway. On our way down, we went through an isolated heavy downpour, but it didn't last long and it was dry by the time we got downtown. Parking was no trouble, but getting out of there was exciting. Luckily, I am getting really good at knowing all of my routes in the Greenville area, so we just took the long way around :)

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Here's the first shot of the night, a beautiful view of the bank at the end of McBee street. Don't forget to click to enlarge my pictures if you want to see the larger version!

I liked it so much, I took another, just to frame it differently. And I really wanted to get the green light to signify Greenvile :) How cheesy.

We stopped for some coffee at Port City Java. It was awesome! I really liked mine, even though it was coffier than I normally like it. Maybe I'm developing a taste for it??

We heard trombones, and that caught my attention really quickly. We walked up Main Street and found this New Orleans-ish brass band jamming away. They were great! The lead trombonist was incredible. I couldn't get very good pictures, so this'll have to do :P

I got a great video of this girl dancing in front of everybody, but I haven't gotten around to posting videos here, so use your imaginations.

Part of the festivities was a nationwide meet of Honda Goldwing riders. Main Street was lined with Gold Wings and Valkyries(sp?), as well as large parking lots full of 'em. You know, the rambuxious crazy retired Goldwing riders.

Greenville's finest! (My customers, too.) They were stationed all over the downtown area directing traffic.


This was a jazz concert going on near City Hall.

Speak of the devil, here's City Hall.

There was beautiful lighting on many of the buildings, too.

This was a neat view from the pedestrian bridge. loooooots of people. Since this is the place to be, Erin and walked around until we found a good spot to sit.


Here's a view of the bridge from Falls Park.

Here's another concert: The Army Ground Forces band. That made it like 4 or 5 shows going on at once, from what we saw.

Here's the hotels from up the river. Sorry, many of these are very blurry, but I did my best with my limited tools.

And here are some of the better shots of the fireworks. The show was incredible! It was very loud, with the booms bouncing off of the river and buildings. The Grand Finale was mind blowing, but those pictures didn't turn out right...The sky was too bright :)

Thanks for letting me share our holiday experience with you! Hope you had a happy, safe Independence Day at home. Be on the lookout of more posts from me very soon! PEACE