Day 183 Surf and Boom

We headed down to Santa Cruz for the July fourth weekend, which is an oceanside town known for its surf and Armageddon-like free-for-all fireworks on the beaches on the Fourth. Basically, despite local law enforcement’s noble attempts to stop the craziness from ensuing, thousands of locals and tourists overtake the beaches and streets and launch over a million dollars worth of smuggled-in fireworks at will. (Fireworks are illegal in California.) It’s frightening and cool all at once.

For example, we were standing on the street above the beach watching Disneyland-quality fireworks be launched by crazed citizens, thinking we were a safe distance from the madness. After all, we had a baby, a toddler, 3-year-old twins, and several other kids with us, when a kindly woman runs up to us and says, “You may want to move.”

We look back to see, only about 5-feet behind us, a guy (looking quite red-faced and tipsy) setting up to light a professional-grade mortar firework. I can still hear the yells of, “Move the baby! Move the baby!” stinging my ears. We all frantically ran for cover.

If you ever want to see an unprofessional, yet thrilling fireworks show, that may involve dodging some embers and bottle rockets; I can recommend Santa Cruz on the fourth.