Nailing the Fourth of July

I love the Fourth of July. It took me a while to get used to the flagrant patriotism. I know that's the point of the Fourth of July, but the sheer volume of stars and stripes still surprised me. I'm from a generation of Brits who are raised to be slightly embarrassed about our nation's past. With the exception of skinheads and everyone during a world cup, we don't fly our flag quite proudly. 

But if the idea of a day of national pride and the preponderance of patriotic outfits took me aback at first, it didn't take long before I was decking P out in red white and blue and asking friends what they were doing for the Fourth.

Having said all that, this year we didn't quite join the party. The last couple of years we went to a workout buddy's massive beach party, but he switched gyms, and now I haven't seen him since the last Fourth of July, so the ratio of catching up with him vs making small talk with hardbodies I don't know from Adam is all out of whack. We could have joined our good friends' block party, for a more wholesome option. That'd  be fun, but it's not our block and our neighbours, after all. We could have gone to a party in Silverlake, but who wants to drive for an hour on the Fourth of July?

It turns out we didn't want, or need to drive anywhere.

Instead we made the most of a day off in the middle of the week the best way we know how. An early surf for TLOML, and a run for me, and then we wore our smuggest smiles down to the beach. It was crazy busy but we found a quiet patch with space for P to dig in the sand while we did very little. 

TLOML body surfed for ages, and not to be outdone, I took my first - very brief - ocean swim of the year.  P collected about a hundred shells. We enjoyed some late afternoon margaritas and burgers on our deck with a couple of friends, and fell into bed feeling sun kissed and tipsy by 10pm.

It's no pool party, but I think we may have found the perfect way to celebrate America's birthday.

Independence Day, Hermosa style

As a Brit in America, I should be ambivalent, at best, about Independence Day. Or, as a friend on Twitter called it, 'The day we gave you ungrateful colonials your freedom'. But it's hard not to swept up in the fun of the holiday. It's just a big, star spangled, red cup bearing 'Murica-fest of a party.

This was our first Fourth of July in the US for a few years, and our first in our adopted home town of Hermosa. So I wanted to get it right.

Based on my limited Fourth of July experience, I thought the day was mainly about pool parties and fireworks. Imagine my confusion when I saw this sign stretched across Pier Plaza:

Well, if there are no fireworks, what do we do? Not only are fireworks banned for individuals, there also is no city-sponsored display. And we don't have a pool. Nor do our buddies, with whom we planned to spend the day.

I was worried for a short while but TLOML reassured me. The important thing, apparently, is to be outside. It doesn't need to be poolside: lakes, beaches, and parks work just as well. The other important thing is to spend the day with friends. And to drink, steadily, from fairly early on.

Phew. So it turns out we nailed it. We headed to the beach early, which was packed with volleyball playing, daytime drinking, fun-seeking crowds. (We were a little late to catch the tail end of the Hermosa Iron Man, which involves a 1 mile run, a 1 mile paddleboard, and the chugging of a 6 pack of beers). There some amongst our number drank beer disguised as energy drinks and consumed jello shots, before noon. Then back to the Sugar Cube for an afternoon of burgers, something called a turtle pie (nicer than it sounds), and yes, more booze.

As an added bonus, it turns out the reason little old Hermosa doesn't have fireworks is because we get a great, free, view of the ones in Redondo. TLOML and I headed down to the beach after dark and sat in the sand, with hundreds of others, to watch the display.

All in all it was a perfect holiday. And the next day we dispatched Lady P (who enjoyed neither jello shots nor fireworks) to the beach to help with the Surfrider Clean up.

She may, as a result, have a slightly warped view of what the Fourth of July is all about. But living in Hermosa, I think she'll get the right idea soon enough.