Memories of 4th of July

Living in Florida has its advantages, one of them being able to hit the nice cool waters of the beaches once the weather starts to scorch the skin the moment you walk outside. Come July, this is exactly what happens, as temperatures start to skyrocket into near 100's with humidity and heat index that make it impossible to do anything outside without water.

Before Florida started getting dry, with the typical April showers and the summer sun showers that would last about twenty minutes, starting around 3:00, Ron Jon Surf Shop used to have an incredible fireworks display on the 4^th of July.

Our family lived only about twenty minutes from the beach, so we would dodge the drunken beach people that had been scorched from perching outside all day on their sandcastle couches, and find just the right spot once dark settled in to watch the fireworks.

I'm talking fireworks '" better than any theme park spectacle, twenty to thirty minutes of high-intensity, colorful, outlandish fireworks. I can only picture the men on the barge that delivered at which speed they started lighting. As a kid, this was by far my favorite 4^th of July experience.

Eventually, this tradition ended and we succumbed to the Wal-mart variety fireworks and poppers, which we enjoyed, of course. Nothing compares to the experience of those beach fireworks though.