Fireworks are my favorite part of the 4th of July celebration. The large burst of glittering colorful explosions soaring up into the sky are always breathtaking; and extremely loud.
I’ve watched fireworks displays in a couple of different ways over the years. I’ve had years where we’ve watched them go off over the lake. One where they were set off on the porch while we were on that same porch. And others where I saw the whole display through the lens of my camera which was a lot less exciting than watching them without looking through the small viewfinder.
Back when I lived in southern Missouri I was able to watch fireworks while driving home . Mainly because unlike Minnesota Missouri has much looser laws around fireworks. Meaning that people in the city could just set off as many of whatever kind that they wanted off in their yards; including some that if seen in Minnesota would have come from Wisconsin.
Driving through people setting off fireworks left and right is both really cool and really scary at the same time. It’s amazing because you’re just surrounded by a massive display of explosions causing the sky to be constantly lit by colorful sparks. Which is also scary because you are surrounded by a massive display of explosions that can make it hard to drive as the sky is in a constant state of being blindingly bright then suddenly dark for half a second. This is an experience that I have only ever experienced in Missouri.
The last two years I have watched the fireworks from my Twin Cities apartment which is definitely a different experience. Mainly due to there being far less on official firework displays going on in the middle of a Minnesota city then there are in the middle of one in Missouri. There were a couple of people setting them off at home far off in the distance that I could kind of see from my window and a couple glimpse from the official displays in the park.
