Yep, it's 4th of July weekend. For some reason, fireworks around here largely occurred on the night of the 3rd instead of the 4th. I heard they were at Mt. Greylock School, so a friend and I decided to go to see them that night. We had gotten in the car and were about to leave when she inquired if I knew how to get there. Naturally, I did not.

    We went back inside, and I called some friends at random, presuming that most of them are more competent than I when it comes to directions. I finally reached one, and he gave me simple directions. Meanwhile, my other friend had looked up directions on the computer, but I decided to go with what I had been told. So we drove along that road, and sure enough, ended up at Mt. Greylock. Not the school, the mountain. Oops. There was another school there, but it was the wrong school.

    We turned around in a roundabout way, and proceeded to the correct location, easily identifiable by the tremendous amount of traffic, resulting in our failure to get anywhere near the fireworks before they began. We heard thunderous booms and saw big flashes of light in the sky, occasionally a few scattered glowing dots which just rose above the tall trees between us and the fireworks. Defeated, we turned around and went home.

    But the day was not a loss, because someone else dropped by and we went to get ice cream. And frankly, a good burnt butter and sugar ice-cream with friends (a flavor I reccommend) (although you should note that "with friends" is not part of the ice cream flavor) (nor is it the sprinkles, wisenheimer) is better than fireworks anyway. Besides, I ended up ignoring the fireworks on the actual 4th of July in favor of fooded gatherings. An afternoon barbecue on the quad, followed by an evening sitting on my back porch and eating smores, strawberry shortcake, and watermelon.

    Now that's what makes this country great.