July 4th is American Independence day. But Americans love referring to it as "July 4th" instead of Independence Day.
2011
I don't remember anything about my first July 4th in 2011. I was in grad school at that time. When you are in grad school you don't pay much attention to long weekends. In fact, Saturday and Sunday aren't special days either when you are in grad school. Any random day could turn into a great day depending upon whats going on in school: Midterm, end of the semester, the professor gave a deadline extension on your assignment, grades are out and you got a few As.
2012
This was the first 4th of July I have some memory about. I graduated in May of that year, my friend Vignesh and I took up our first job just a few weeks earlier in Atlanta. This was the very first long weekend we encountered after joining work.
I had only a bicycle at that time, I go to work in bicycle. During that long weekend, I looked up on google if there were any bike trails nearby to go to. I noted down the path on my mind and went for the ride. I had a basic Nokia mobile at that time. While coming back I lost my way and asked for directions to a random person. After instructing how to get to the main street, he said "Happy 4th of July!". I had no idea how to respond to that, It did not strike to me that July 4th was the American Independence day and it is a special day. I was thinking, maybe this person always wishes people by the date, like how people say "Happy Friday".
Took me few days to realize why he wished that way. That was 2012.
2013
This year I am all aware of what July 4th is. We planned ahead to go to Vegas for the July 4th weekend. Vignesh was so mad at me for picking a convertible. Nevertheless, we all enjoyed that trip. Vignesh, Panneerselvam, Naveed and I went to Vegas for a 3 day weekend. The weather was burning hot but we did not care, we were young and wild.
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| Everything is real in this picture. |
2014
My cousin sister's family visited me from Chicago this year for July 4th weekend. We rented an SUV and visited LA to see Disney Land and Universal Studios. We saw the fireworks somewhere around Los Angeles and then again a second Fireworks inside Disney Land. People who visit Disney Land are really serious about Fireworks. Everyone started gathering about 2 hours before the actual fireworks. But we moved away from the crowd and started walking towards the exit. My nephew Sidharth(A kid), really wanted to use the restroom. We were scrambling to find a restroom but the fireworks took us by surprise. Sidharth forgot that he had to use the restroom when the fireworks started. As soon as the display stopped, it hit him again and we are all running to find the restroom. That was a fun weekend with family.
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| That's my nephew Sidharth, at the back of Mitsubishi Outlander. He is excited about cars. You can point at any random car on the road and ask him what it is, he would know both the Make and Model of it! Except how to pronounce it. He would go "Tyo Tyo" which means Toyota |
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2015
This year we had no plan to go anywhere. We cooked tiger rice at home and packed it in a Tupperware. Made coffee and packed it in a thermos. We randomly drove to Crissy Field beach. View of the golden gate was amazing that day. Sat on the beach for an hour. Took photos on the DSLR with a shutter remote. While sitting on Crissy Field beach, we saw people riding bicycles on the side of the Golden Gate bridge. Decided to do the same, we went to a nearby bike rental place. Got 3 bicycles and rode it across the bridge. When in Marin headlands. I took out my drone with anticipation of taking some great shots of the golden gate. That camera was very low quality and with all the trees there was no view of the bridge. After a few minutes of flying, the drone fell into the bushes.
How can we abandon the drone? So Muthu and I went into the bushes searching for it, we found it after few minutes of searching. But, we both got scratched on our legs by Poison Ivy. Went to hospital and took several weeks to heal after some strong tablets.
2016
How can we abandon the drone? So Muthu and I went into the bushes searching for it, we found it after few minutes of searching. But, we both got scratched on our legs by Poison Ivy. Went to hospital and took several weeks to heal after some strong tablets.
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| Muthu the Bedsheet Batman. July 4th, 2015 |
2016
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| Golden Gate and Marin Headlands |
Lots of friends visiting from out of town. We decided to go bike ride in Golden Gate again this year. We rented bikes at the same place as last year and rode as high as Varanam Airam spot where Surya proposes Samira Reddy. Hills were so steep while coming down the hill our bikes went too fast to control. One of our friends tripped down while riding downhill. Rushed to the ER, all was fine in the end.
2017
We were not doing anything special this year. It came down to watching fireworks in nearby Santa Clara park with Family. I was a little bit nervous until the end of the end of the day because last two July 4th I had a brush with hospitals. Hoping everything should be fine. It was.
2017
We were not doing anything special this year. It came down to watching fireworks in nearby Santa Clara park with Family. I was a little bit nervous until the end of the end of the day because last two July 4th I had a brush with hospitals. Hoping everything should be fine. It was.
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| Fireworks in Central Park, Santa Clara |
2018
This year we took a drive up to Stinson Beach north of San Francisco. Perfect weather for hanging out at the beach. Lots of families, kids, and dogs having fun at the watch of lifeguards on the shore. Our next point was the Point Bonita lighthouse. We took a lunch stop and before our next drive. During this drive, we had some intellectual conversation about how to sense other people's comfort zone while choosing what topics to make jokes out of. Everybody in the car participated including Shadow. Shadow is our friend's pet dog which can sense what we are talking about and occasionally licks you if he thinks you are sad. We all realized how grown up we are by the end of the conversation. After some driving, we reached the lighthouse location, but it was closed. We could not get a glimpse of the lighthouse because it was well hidden behind a mountain. But at least we got a good sight of the Golden Gate from an angle we haven't seen before. It was our friend Vignesh's birthday the next day. So we surprised(He somewhat guessed it) him with a birthday cake and returned back home.
This year we took a drive up to Stinson Beach north of San Francisco. Perfect weather for hanging out at the beach. Lots of families, kids, and dogs having fun at the watch of lifeguards on the shore. Our next point was the Point Bonita lighthouse. We took a lunch stop and before our next drive. During this drive, we had some intellectual conversation about how to sense other people's comfort zone while choosing what topics to make jokes out of. Everybody in the car participated including Shadow. Shadow is our friend's pet dog which can sense what we are talking about and occasionally licks you if he thinks you are sad. We all realized how grown up we are by the end of the conversation. After some driving, we reached the lighthouse location, but it was closed. We could not get a glimpse of the lighthouse because it was well hidden behind a mountain. But at least we got a good sight of the Golden Gate from an angle we haven't seen before. It was our friend Vignesh's birthday the next day. So we surprised(He somewhat guessed it) him with a birthday cake and returned back home.
In the night, met with another group of friends and visited Santa Clara County park for the fireworks. We knew we won't find parking, so we didn't even attempt to go to the park's parking. We stopped in front of a quiet neighborhood for few minutes to get a glimpse of the fireworks and returned back home.
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| Shadow the dog |
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