Things that remind me of July 4th.

Posted on July 4, 2022 by dinajohnston

This is a repost from 2016.

This was way too easy. A permanently injured eagle at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. Whoever added the flag on the back fence was a genius.

Mount Rushmore several years ago with my sister who lives in nearby Sioux Falls.

Bay Pines National Cemetery in St. Petersburg Florida where members of the Armed Forces are buried. My parents are here. My dad was in WW2.

My cousin and his family are all in the Tampa Bay Water Ski show. This is the opening from their free shows every Saturday afternoon.

Practicing fireworks before dark in the neighborhood.

I found this flag hanging on a wall in a tourist shop in Tarpon Springs. It’s made of shells and starfish.

A very young bald eagle learning to fly.

A bald eagle souring across the sky.

I was looking through some older folders of a flag picture to post for today and came across all of the above. I couldn’t decide which one to post so I added all of them. All reminders of the summer season. From Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day.

Getting off the couch

Posted on August 5, 2021 by dinajohnston

We didn’t get any rain this past 4th of July. It was sunny most of the day. Brett and I stayed in and relaxed on the couch watching movies since it was so hot. Right before dark I jumped up and decided to get out and try and get some firework shots. Last year I went right into the thick of chaos on the causeway where everyone shoots off their own fireworks but the traffic is so bad so I decided to head to the airport and see if I could get some shots from the top of the airport parking deck. Of course I wasn’t alone. The open top deck was packed with people. There was a lot of firework tailgating going on. I found a good spot to stand facing downtown Tampa but realized there was a lot of haze and fog right over the city. And so far away. I realized I wasn’t going to get good shots but didn’t want to run out and try somewhere else.

The cool thing was that you could see fireworks going off all over the city. You could see them across the bay and out on the causeway. They were everywhere. If only they weren’t so far away. I had brought my 200mm and these are very cropped.

The football stadium was all lit up and people were setting off their own fireworks all around the stadium. People were probably shooting them off in the parking lots there.

Heading over to the other side of the parking deck, I could see fireworks over at Rocky Point, near the causeway. Someone was shooting them off right behind that new building and it looked like the building was on fire from far away.

It was a fun night out and everyone was having fun just being out with friends and family. I think next year I’ll try and find a deck much closer to the city. From the airport, the tall buildings downtown hid the big city fireworks that were being set off by the city at Channelside so that was a bust. Hopefully next year!