Last night my wife and I were talking about patriotism or lack of. I told her Texas is probably the only state where you will see as many state flags, or maybe even more state flags than the American flag on July 4th. Then, today...there goes the Galveston Historical Foundation Elissa tall ship based in Galveston, Texas, sailing on the Hudson river in New York, sporting two Texas state flags on the main mast with the single American flag properly displayed at the stern. It's a Texas thang.
Thank you gentlemen! Hope everyone had a nice 4th of July.
Yesterday I parked at a garage few blocks from the US Marine Corps War Memorial (aka Iwo Jima Memorial), took a uber to the Navy & Marine Memorial by the river to shoot the airshow/flyover, in just to see the opening act of the flyover of the NASA jets in American paint scheme. The best $15 I have ever spent! Imagine pulling the heavy wagon with all the camera gear, tripod, cooler, chair for 2 miles in 100 degree and sun? The air was much clearer than on Friday when I went to see the practice.
I was staying under a tree when there was no action and there were breezes once in a while. It wasn't as bad as I expected. I drank 8 or 9 bottles of water and Gatorade. The flyover/demo was fantastic! They did cancel the F-22 demo, F-22 afterburner and B-1 afterburner passes due to the weather. They were scheduled around the best hour for light. I had never seen the legendary B-1 afterburner so I was so looking forward to that. I left the river bank around 8:00 and walked to the Netherlands for the fireworks. My friend saved me a spot. It was packed and people were singing patriotic songs while waiting for the firework to start (at 12:00!!). One doesn't have to like the President to celebrate this big day for the country.
The firework display was amazing. it covered a much wide area than the normal 4th of July fireworks and broker the world record in terms of number, I think it was 875,000. I just bought a new blue tooth camera remote control, just set it up in the morning, it worked when I tried it after I paired it with the camera, but when I tried to shoot fireworks, I couldn't make it work. Also some people stood up when the fireworks started and blocked the lower part of the frame. I had shot fireworks from the Netherlands Carillon several times before, never saw people standing up. So no firework pix from me this time. I felt it was more important to witness it with my own eyes. Plenty of professionally created pictures and videos can always be found on the net anyway.
I will post the airhshow/flyover pictures once I get around to work on the files.
Ray Swindle wrote:
Last night my wife and I were talking about patriotism or lack of. I told her Texas is probably the only state where you will see as many state flags, or maybe even more state flags than the American flag on July 4th. Then, today...there goes the Galveston Historical Foundation Elissa tall ship based in Galveston, Texas, sailing on the Hudson river in New York, sporting two Texas state flags on the main mast with the single American flag properly displayed at the stern. It's a Texas thang.
Yes it IS Ray! Great for "Tay-has" but real sad for the other 49 states IMHO!
I fly my American flag and my primary military unit flag 24/7...Suzanne and I were up until the "wee" hours of the morning watching and listening to the accolades from our younger people about Proud To Be An American!
The 107 yr old WWII veteran was FANTASTIC! He hadn't lost a "step"!
Yesterday was a day for Patriotism!
Those who hate America should leave..Call me and I will help you pack!
What trash/hate they are spewing needs to stop IMHO!
I respect their need to vent but I don't accept it nor do I like it!
Hope everyone had a great Independence Day!
De Opresso Libre!
Dan
