Watching the 4th of July fireworks can be a real hassle. The best seat in town is on the water, so that means launching the boat and hanging around in Thompson Bay till 9pm. To launch a boat on 4th of July, you either have to get up really, really early to beat the crowd--or you have to commit to waiting for quite a long time in line for your turn at the launch ramp. And the boat needs to be packed up with a full day's supply of drinks and food. The lake itself is very busy, so you've got to always be keeping an eye out for other boats and jet skis. It's not relaxing at all.
Then there's the option of driving somewhere near the lake to watch from the car. Since the beach gets packed full of people that's not a very easy option. And the traffic gets insane. Yes, we're high maintenance whiners.
I had the idea of taking the Cessna up in the air. Pretty good idea, I have to admit. I'm glad I took my camera, because it was definitely a different vantage point and I like to share!
My first pictures were blurry because I hadn't yet figured out the settings for taking night photos. It's not easy!! But once I got to trying different options, I started getting better results.
The boats down on the black lake below us looked like a starry sky, there were so many. I think that was the most impressive thing about our view.
A few people spotted us, as we circled. Steve's daughter was at a friend's house and she said they'd commented on the plane that was flying around up near the fireworks. Well we weren't near, but I'm sure it looked like it.
It was very neat to see the show from up above, I'm glad we did it!
