All things considered, my 4th of July wasn’t bad. I started the day by meeting my friend and her daughter at AMC Theaters to see the matinee of “Despicable Me 2.” I’m not usually a huge fan of animated movies, but the original “Despicable Me” was my favorite. Although this one was cute, the original one is always the best.
Later in the day, they picked me up, we went to Safeway to grab some food (a baguette, cheese, crackers, rotisserie chicken, watermelon, cantaloupe and drinks), then headed off to Chrissy Field. Chrissy Field is a nice grassy area near the Golden Gate Bridge, which also has a “beach” area. One of my exes used to walk there from his apartment in the Marina on weekend mornings, as well as going there for his rugby team practice. Another of my exes used to take his dog there on weekend afternoons, as there were always plenty of other dogs for him to play with. There’s plenty of free parking and, when the weather cooperates, it’s a great place to be. The weather started out nice enough, then got windy late afternoon/early evening. By the time the fireworks started at 9:30 p.m., the wind had surprisingly died down and it wasn’t too bad sitting out. With San Francisco weather, you never know if it will end up being too foggy to see the fireworks. However, since the wind had blown away any fog, the skies were clear. Of course, once the fireworks were over, it took about 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot, then another 45 minutes to get back to my apartment via going through the Presidio and other little shortcuts.
That being said, I STILL miss the 4th of July in Los Angeles. You were guaranteed to have nice weather. When I was with my Thai boyfriend, we’d meet his friends down at Santa Monica Beach. I’d bring my Chow Chow, Pea, and everyone would BBQ (on hibachis) and drink all day until the fireworks started. One 4th of July, no one was paying attention, so Pea managed to down some wine, rum and Coke, AND beer. My boyfriend had had quite a bit of alcohol as well. One of his friends ended up driving us home. My boyfriend was passed out in the back seat with my Chow passed out on top of him. To this day, I regret not taking a picture of that! In later years, I liked to spend the 4th of July at the Hollywood Bowl. You watch a concert in an outdoor amphitheater under the stars, either picnic before or during the concert and end the evening with spectacular fireworks. Even if I didn’t go to the beach or the Hollywood Bowl, there were always BBQs and pool parties going on, and someone ALWAYS invited me. That’s the difference between Los Angeles and San Francisco. No one ever invites me on the 4th of July or at Thanksgiving here. That’s the difference in the culture/social scene and the people of SoCal and NoCal.
Here are a few of the photos from yesterday. Enjoy!
