Oooh—pretty lights!

Like many in the US, I watched a lot of fireworks this holiday weekend. Madison claims to have the best fireworks display in the Midwest: Rhythm and Booms. I, for one, believe them. The fireworks are electronically set off to go with music that is broadcast over the radio. I love these colorful explosions whose only purpose is to be beautiful.

They shot off over 15,000 shells and the display lasted over 30 minutes. It was spectacular!  I only wish that our Independence Day celebrations could be a celebration of peace—with less military presence, in this case including a flyover by some military jets before the show.

A friend lives near Warner park and after the show we wait at her house while some of the 250,000 attendees try to leave simultaneously. It goes pretty smoothly, considering that that is more people than live in Madison. There are also many people watching from all around the nearby lake; there's even a traffic jam of boats going home.