Happy July Fourth
Yes, our Nikon pretty much sucks, but we think some of our photos of the D.C. fireworks worked out quite well. Here you can see three major blurred symbols of American democracy -- the Capitol, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial -- framing a spectacular fire burst above West Potomac Park.
We encourage you do drop in your photos of the fireworks in DCist Photos.
Here's our quick roundup of the July Fourth holiday, involving helicopters, Old Navy flag ware and sweaty anti-public transportation outsiders stuck at the Rosslyn station.
Scanning the City. We had a wonderful view of the city of Washington from a friend's balcony in Rosslyn. We watched as cars disregarded no parking regulations on Intestate 66 and the random ramps connecting Route 110 and the George Washington Parkway to the Roosevelt Bridge and how it all clogged traffic into the District. Everyone wanted to see the fireworks, no matter what. And others wanted to launch their own fireworks spectacle. In fact, we were a bit worried for pilots flying into DCA. Anyone on the Virginia side of the river certainly saw the bottle rockets and other (we assume illegal) fireworks being launched into the approach for inbound planes.
Speaking of illegal fireworks, we must give a pyrotechnics honor to the people of Anacostia and other nearby neighborhoods (we're guessing Barry Farms, Buena Vista and Naylor Gardens) for non-sanctioned fireworks launches. When we scanned the darkened eastern horizon, we saw more spectacular explosions toward the southeast, but the folks in Adams Morgan and Mount Pleasant did a superb job as well. Illegal launchers on Capitol Hill have an unfair advantage as anything they shoot into the air has an automatically impressive show from Virginia because of the Capitol dome framing the view so well.
Marketing Saturation. During the day, DCist and friends from out of town did our duty and walked the length of the Mall to look at the symbols of our city. We immediately noticed the large number of families and individuals wearing flag wear from Old Navy. So we began to count as we walked toward the Lincoln Memorial and continued counting through the end of the evening in the interest of an amateur measure of holiday retail marketing saturation. We counted 101 Old Navy flag shirts, and that number would have been much higher if we double counted the four-member family decked out in matching white Old Navy flag shirts. (We saw them twice. The second time in Dupont Circle, when we cheered for the statistical achievement bewildering the family.)
Baghdad on the Potomac. There were a lot of helicopters out after the fireworks, scanning the city with spotlights as people were leaving the Mall and the Iwo Jima memorial for various metrorail stations. Who they were looking for, nobody knows. Regardless, shining the lights down on retreating tourists gives the American capital a more ominous and uncomfortable wartime feel. Perhaps it's all a good reminder of the threats facing the capital.
Tough Times at Rosslyn. Metrorail was running special July Fourth service. But after the fireworks, the jam at Rosslyn turned into massive congestion above ground and down below on the platform. Because the station was too crowded, WMATA personnel prevented homebound commuters from entering the station. DCist decided to take the elevators and we bypassed the controlled melee above ground. But there was certainly something awry with trains servicing the Rosslyn station, at least the lack of Huntington-bound Blue Line shuttles leaving from the upper platform of the Rosslyn station. Said one older man heading to Huntington: "I don't think our train's comin'. I'll melt in sweat."
Overall though, metrorail service ran pretty well from our vantage point.
Happy Independence Day.