– I’m surrounded by all this pavement

Almost two years ago Patrick took this photo.

Off to the left, in the distance there, you can see the library at UMass. This got me thinking.

The town of Amherst has a pretty good 4th of July fireworks show from the UMass campus. We went three years ago and the show was great but the insane crowding in the parking lot and the stupidity of people trying to speed away amongst 100’s of other vehicles as soon as it was over kinda turned me off to the whole thing. Then I saw that picture and I thought – perfect, distant vantage point!

Last year it rained so we didn’t bother. This year we had friends over for a cookout, crazy, busy playtime with 6 kids, cake for a girl that celebrates her birthday with our country and I suggested we hit Mt Pollux for the fireworks. We got there just at dark and just as somebody else needed to leave – think tiny leeetle parking lot (fits 10 cars) and a long, uphill, one lane, fenced on both sides road – it took some maneuvering but we headed up the hill and settled in for a good show.

We could see the fireworks from 5 surrounding towns and we did have a great view of the Amhert show, I’m even willing to forget the man-eating mosquitoes.

Thanks for coming with us guys! Happy 4th!

When we got home I asked Pat if he wanted to watch a movie, “Depends on what we have.“

I told him we had Notes on a Scandal.

“Well, I didn’t hate The Squid and the Whale.“

Awesome

Toots