there is nothing like celebrating

there is nothing like celebrating our country's independence by setting off hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of illegal fireworks!

now, i know you're thinking... hundreds of thousands of dollars? huh? and i know fireworks aren't illegal everywhere, but they are where i am (santa cruz county). i spent the day with my family at a state beach in aptos. now, we go to this beach often, and i've never seen it this crowded, ever. at about 8:30, when the sun had just set, the fireworks started going off... and continues until i left at ten, and according to my parents were still going at 10:45. these were hard core, REAL fireworks, not just a bunch of sparklers, and i'd say there were 6-8 fireworks going off every few seconds for over an hour, on either side of us (i'd say it was a good 5 mile stretch of beach). that's a lot of fireworks... and we had over $100 worth and ours didn't last very long! i wish i had videotaped it. it was unreal.