Sunday, July 5, 2009,
Independence Day 2009 was SO MUCH FUN!!
i spent the day with two of my friends in my ward's Young Single Adult group:
Valerie (an Au Par from Germany) and Carson (a student from China) and we had such a blast! Being the only "American" in my group i felt it was my obligation to sing as many patriot songs as i possibly could...all day long...including "America the Beautiful" "This Land is Your Land, this Land is My Land" "Proud to be an American" (with the appropriate country twang) "God Bless America" and of course "the Star Spangled Banner". Luckily they were good sports and put up with me.
The typical July 4th with my family would include: waking up late and missing the parade, going swimming or to a movie, spending time with various extended family members, a BBQ and usually going to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks at the field of the Provo Temple-grounds.
This year i woke up early (well...for a saturday...) and took a train into the city and met Carson and Valerie at Grand Central then we walked over to the New York Public Library (which was closed). Then we got Jamba Juice before heading to Times Square to see if they had anything going on--there weren't any "events" but there were lawn chairs everywhere! And people were just sitting in the middle of Broadway-tanning! Naturally, we joined them! After that we hoped on the subway and went down to Brooklyn. We got hot dogs and decided to walk the famous Brooklyn Bridge. It actually took longer to find the entrance to the bridge than it did to walk it...but it was worth it. The view was beautiful and it was just a cool thing to experience. After that we took the subway up to Central Park (it was Carson's first time ever) and walked around then found the lake and laid down there for a while with our feet up. It was a spectacular day!! not too hot, always a breeze-- it was just perfect! After we ate dinner (a typical "American meal" of amazing hamburgers)(at a restaurant that still used Water Closets!) we decided to find the streets where we could see the fireworks. This year-instead of shooting them off from the Statue of Liberty-they were going to be along the Hudson River. We found our perfect spot right at sunset. They had closed off the high-way for the event so we were actually standing on an overpass! The fire works were great and Carson kept reminding us that they were made in China. lol When it was all over and we had conquered the massive crowd-we found ourselves in the same area as the Manhattan Temple. It was the perfect way to end the night. We walked back to Grand Central Station and realized that it was exactly 12 hours-to the minute- since we had got in that morning. We don't think anyone had covered more ground in 12 hours than we had. So. Much. Fun.
Valerie (an Au Par from Germany) and Carson (a student from China) and we had such a blast! Being the only "American" in my group i felt it was my obligation to sing as many patriot songs as i possibly could...all day long...including "America the Beautiful" "This Land is Your Land, this Land is My Land" "Proud to be an American" (with the appropriate country twang) "God Bless America" and of course "the Star Spangled Banner". Luckily they were good sports and put up with me.
The typical July 4th with my family would include: waking up late and missing the parade, going swimming or to a movie, spending time with various extended family members, a BBQ and usually going to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks at the field of the Provo Temple-grounds.
This year i woke up early (well...for a saturday...) and took a train into the city and met Carson and Valerie at Grand Central then we walked over to the New York Public Library (which was closed). Then we got Jamba Juice before heading to Times Square to see if they had anything going on--there weren't any "events" but there were lawn chairs everywhere! And people were just sitting in the middle of Broadway-tanning! Naturally, we joined them! After that we hoped on the subway and went down to Brooklyn. We got hot dogs and decided to walk the famous Brooklyn Bridge. It actually took longer to find the entrance to the bridge than it did to walk it...but it was worth it. The view was beautiful and it was just a cool thing to experience. After that we took the subway up to Central Park (it was Carson's first time ever) and walked around then found the lake and laid down there for a while with our feet up. It was a spectacular day!! not too hot, always a breeze-- it was just perfect! After we ate dinner (a typical "American meal" of amazing hamburgers)(at a restaurant that still used Water Closets!) we decided to find the streets where we could see the fireworks. This year-instead of shooting them off from the Statue of Liberty-they were going to be along the Hudson River. We found our perfect spot right at sunset. They had closed off the high-way for the event so we were actually standing on an overpass! The fire works were great and Carson kept reminding us that they were made in China. lol When it was all over and we had conquered the massive crowd-we found ourselves in the same area as the Manhattan Temple. It was the perfect way to end the night. We walked back to Grand Central Station and realized that it was exactly 12 hours-to the minute- since we had got in that morning. We don't think anyone had covered more ground in 12 hours than we had. So. Much. Fun.
4:02 PM
My name is Kimberly. I love to live & live to love. Passions include music, travel, laughter, & people.