How I Spent My Holiday Weekend

Since July 4 fell on a Friday this year, and libraries (and their shipping centers) are closed on national holidays, I got an extra day off this weekend. How is it that one suddenly becomes busier when one has an extra day off, even when one only works three days a week?

First off, as the photo implied, I got to see live fireworks this year. Not the big displays, with the big crowds and big noise and big lines to leave the parking lot afterwards. (I found out that apparently this may be the last year they had the megahuge fireworks in the professional displays, sadly, as they are now cost prohibitive to transport because of their explosive categorization. I smell Homeland Security's dirty little hands infringing on my freedom to celebrate our nation's birthday...) My mother's boss lives out on Lake Retreat, a privately owned lake whose residents annually send thousands upon thousands of dollars up in smoke at this time of year. Instead of one twenty-minute display, we got an hour and a half or more of surround-sound displays coming from all sides. There was some question as to whether the weather would cooperate at first. While we were over at Grandpa's having lunch, we saw dark clouds down at her end of the region. But we got the all-clear call later that day, so we went down. We only had a brief hint of a sprinkle, but we sat it out and it cleared off again. This year, I had a new camera and a vaguely reliable tripod, so I managed to get a few acceptable photos of the festivities. Of course, the trouble with tripods is that they don't move well, and with photo ops flashing all around me, even right overhead, things got a bit tricky.

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The Calm Before The Storm

The end of a nice day over Lake Retreat. Little does the lake know what it has coming...

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Across the Waters

One of the better displays was launched by the people across the way from us, in a house that, by night, would make a great cover to a dark little romance/horror type novel. With the lake reflection, it was like getting two displays for the price of one - and since we got that one for free, it was an extra treat.

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And more fireworks shots, two from the people right next to us - exploding over my head as I snapped - and one from a place across the way. (Just think of all the ones I missed, if I managed to salvage these few...)

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Things calmed down on Saturday (relatively - I spent it painting up a drum, which isn't ready to be photographed yet so don't ask.) On Sunday, we headed out again to Tall Ships Tacoma, an annual event wherein numerous elder-day sailing vessels come in to town for tours and cruises and generally generating money. Once more, I brought my camera, and once more I grabbed the digital equivalent of a metric ton of shots. Since light wasn't fighting me, I got many more I liked, but fortunately for you I culled it down to the barest of bare essentials to get the point across.

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The Ships Come In

Two ships, at least, returning from cruises with paying customers (not cheapskates like us, who only coughed up the ten bucks to wander the docks and tour the smaller boats.) There's something about seeing those giants gliding down the waterways, even among flashy new yachts and such, that captures the imagination.

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The Lady Takes A Bow

A bowshot of the Lady Washington, a replica of a real historical ship. Star Trek buffs will recognize her as the stand-in for the original sailing ship Enterprise in the holodeck sequence from Star Trek: Generations.

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The Lynx

Another ship returns from a cruise, this time the privateer Lynx. She was reputed to be the fastest ship of the thirty-odd tall ships in port this weekend, and I'd believe it.

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The Rigging

So... would you like to keep all those lines sorted in your head?

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The Zodiac Heads Out

Further down the waterway, the fancier premium ships lurked. One of these was the Zodiac; she startled everyone with a blast from her horn before heading out.

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Nina

A replica of the famous Nina (don't know how to get the accent marks,) who looked rather pathetic with all the other big ships around her. Is anyone else sometimes amazed that our ancestors survived sea travel at all?

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The Bounty, Sans Mutiny

This is the replica of the original Bounty used for the classic movie Mutiny on the Bounty. Apparently, it was made 30% bigger than the original to accomodate the film crew and the actors, who were significantly larger than the original mutineers (especially Marlon Brando.) She also appeared in the Pirates of the Carribean movies.

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The Bounty's Figurehead

Gotta love the 15x zoom...

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The Coast Guard Eagle

And this would be the biggest ship at the festival, bar none. It was also free to tour, but the lines were longer than the ship. Originally a German vessel, the Eagle was taken after the war (when the Allies discovered that belowdecks it was built suspiciously like a submarine in an attempt to secretly train crews) and is now the only sailing ship in the Coast Guard.

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More of the Eagle

Because it was a darned cool ship.

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The Figurehead of the Eagle - And Closer

Have I mentioned that I love my 15x zoom?

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One Cool Dog

So it got a bit warm during part of the day... (What? Just because it's a tall ship festival doesn't mean I can't take a picture of a dog.)

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The Tall Ship and a Friend

Because Tacoma is an active port, the big cargo ships were lurking about all day. I thought it made an interesting size contrast with the Hawaiian Chieftan, a vintage-style replica ship.

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The Lynx Under Sail

And away she sails... Shortly after this picture was taken, she nearly gave the entire crowd a heart attack by firing a cannon (blank, of course.)

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Well, I suppose I've bored you all enough with photos to make you very glad I didn't show you any more. Now, I suppose I don't have any more excuses to put off all the stuff I put off by sorting digital images and writing blog entries about them.