It was our second July 4th / Independence Day celebration in America. This time round the build up seemed to center on most Americans asking us if we celebrated July 4th in the UK. They seemed quite taken aback when they found out we didn’t. Nevermind.
Last year we had spent the afternoon and evening in Bellevue in the park enjoying the weather, slides and inflatables for kids and the firework display in the evening. This year we decided to do something a little different – mainly scarred by the memories of taking an hour and a half to get out of the car park after the fireworks had finished.
We did keep one July 4th tradition by going to the Cheesecake Factory for a meal but in the evening we decided to go to Vasa Park rather than Bellevue Park. The park opened to the public at 9pm and we were there with our blankets ready for what we assumed to be a rather low key celebration.
While there may not have been a concentrated 20 minute long firework display we actually got something way better! Super awesome in fact! We found ourselves a nice log down by the beach and sat watching as all around the lake the houses began letting their fireworks off. We had great views of them all plus we could see those on Issaquah Highlands, in Issaquah, over the far side to Sammamish Heights and to the north at Redmond. It was really beautiful – probably the best firework display we’d seen. And the best thing was that it just went on and on and on! We sat and watched them for about an hour and a half and as we arrived home we could still see and hear them going off.
I think our venue for next years celebrations has been set – we’re definitely going back to Vasa Park. I would also recommend it as a good time for people to visit!
httpv://youtu.be/tqKAhG20isY
Check out the piccies here.