Well it may not be Mount Rushmore, but after two consecutive nights of torrential downpours in Ft. Lauderdale, I decided to take a road trip and enjoy the Fourth of July at one of my favorite places to be – Cocoa Beach, home of the space program and the TV show ‘I Dream of Jeannie.’
It actually did not rain and I walked the beach and enjoyed the fireworks show, which the city and Ron Jon’s put on from a barge just a little ways offshore. It was quite a display and one of the best places to celebrate Independence Day in my opinion.
Now where are the most-patriotic spots to spend the Fourth?
1. Mount Rushmore – Seeing the spectacle of fireworks shooting over the large stone heads on the mountain has to be an absolutely amazing event. Actually, the show is generally held on July 3rd, but there are other activities on the July 4th as well. Heading up to the Dakota’s and seeing this show is pretty high up on my list of future trips to actually take.
2. Washington, D.C. – Our nation’s capital and a city full of imposing monuments and museums. What else needs to be said?
3. New York City – A city so something (insert you own cliche or expletive here) they named it twice. While Central Park is actually smaller in total area than Forest Park in St. Louis, it still has to be a great place to spend the day in the quintessential American city.
4. Philadelphia – The home of the Liberty Bell, Rocky and our nation’s first Capital. Never been there myself but still giving it credit here.
5. Cocoa Beach/Cape Canaveral – What is widely thought of as the home of the U.S. space program, which is the crowning jewel of what the American people and the government can accomplish when they decide to put their mind to it. The Moon landings and the Space Shuttle programs are still the province of the United States only and no other country, although China has plans to join our exclusive club in a decade or two.
Well there you go – my first actual blog on a computer. Boring, controversial, whatever else it may be, it is now another of billions of Web pages forever archived by the Google gods!
(Reprinted from my first blog post published online anywhere, as well as my first Fourth of July holiday celebrated in Florida, back in 2007.)
