Celebrating American Independence Day on the road is always weird for me. Often times I forget the date while traveling—when you travel by road and buy your tickets as you go the date just isn’t that important. During my last around-the-world trip I was not only away for two 4th of Julys but out on trips in the middle of nowhere (Gobi Desert, Mongolia & The Serengeti, Tanzania). I find its much better to be away in the middle of nowhere for the 4th rather than in a hostel full of non-American travelers. Its not so difficult to be an American traveling abroad but it can be difficult to be an American abroad surrounded by Europeans in a hostel on the 4th of July.
This year I celebrated in the U.S., attending a suburban parade, getting together with friends to BBQ and watch a friend compete in the grandaddy of all eating championships and watched people set off illegal fireworks in a park nearby until the smoke drove us home. For some reason I thought the Monday holiday would be a great day to head to the beach but seemed like half of Chicago had the same idea.
2 responses to “Independence Day 2010”
Nice to see your photos–the one at the beach is particularly nice.
Happy to see you posting again more regularly.
Hoping to make it up to Chicago again this summer. At some point my head will completely filled up with Uyghur or the term will end. Whenever either happens I shall run up there for escape.
David
David, I have so many photos from different things I’ve done in Chicago (Hawks rally, eating contest, bike rides, couchsurfing, etc.) so I really just need to get them up here. All of the July 4th photos are from my iPhone so they’re not so great. There’s a few from the Hawks rally that I think are actually good photos.
You’re welcome to escape over here, just say the word.