The 4th of July Fireworks show at Chicago's Navy Pier - viewed from the Adler Planetarium:
Something like this is what I was
hoping to get, with the reflections on the water and a sense of the height of the bursts. What I got, for the second year in a row, was jack squat. This year it had been raining heavily for days, and on the fourth it rained
all day long. Most of the displays in the region were cancelled or postponed. We decided to go down to either Mexico Beach or Panama City Beach, both of which postponed until last night (the 5th). I wanted to try Mexico Beach, because I knew it would be
far less crowded. Got down there on the beach about two hours ahead of the fireworks and spent about half an hour with the boys playing in the sand before the bottom fell out again.
I was a bit disappointed; I knew Mexico Beach, a very small town (limited by the Bay/Gulf County line to the east and Tyndall Air Force Base to the west) would probably have a less impressive display, but I knew I could walk back up the hill to the beach side of US 98 and set up my tripod to get plenty of water reflections and the bursts without having to worry about anyone blocking the shot. But we also wanted to eat, and opportunities are very lacking there for that purpose. So we drove the 25 miles east to Panama City in a
torrential downpour and made it to Panama City Beach in about an hour, having to drive about 30 miles per hour through Tyndall AFB due to the traffic ahead of us in search of the reasonably-priced, family-friendly, locally-owned seafood my wife had in mind and with rapidly-fading hopes of seeing fireworks. Once we hit Front Beach Road, we moved at the speed of a glacier, as I expected (I keep telling my wife that Front Beach Road is always going to be a parking lot on holiday weekends). We finally made it to a new, small locally-owned barbecue place called "Let's Eat" about a mile or so east from where the fireworks were supposed to be. Wonder of wonders, the rain slowed to a light drizzle and we got to watch fireworks from a distance as we ate.
Incidentally, we really enjoyed the food even though it wasn't what we'd had in mind before we stopped. So if you're in PCB and think you might be in the mood for barbecue, give "Let's Eat" a try. Decidedly
not fancy, but very good and reasonably priced! And I did see enough of the fireworks to at least say they would have been worth shooting with an ND filter if I could find a good angle.
A few places in the area are planning fireworks for tonight, but I can't do that with church tomorrow. Guess I'll just have to go to WDW for a fireworks fix!
Scott