Love the 4th. Love it all.

Why would you go on vacation over the Fourth of July holiday if you live in the Mad River Valley? Are you crazy? Miss the parade? Miss the spectacle of whatever those crazies from Prickly Mountain will come up with? Miss the early breakfast with friends in Warren Village so you can get through the parking barricades and don't have to take the bus? Miss the opportunity to make a spectacle of oneself by marching with the Sugarbush float? I did miss it. I missed it all.


Don't get me wrong...I had a great time where I was. I sat with my family....19 of us that night, on a bluff overlooking Buzzards bay. We enjoyed the spectacle of no fewer than 13 fireworks displays, from as close as the beach at the bottom of our stairs to as far away as Marion. We actually enjoyed two nights of this spectacle, as they don't do the 4th lightly in Massachusetts. And we enjoyed the sand and the water and the sun and the heat. Is there a better place to be when it's over 100 degrees than on Cape Cod? We tubed and water skied and fished and clammed. We sent two kids to the ER with epic foot splinters. We burned and peeled and scolded each other and burned again. We played checkers, and gin rummy and miningolf and football. We made friendship bracelets and chowder. And then we went home. Home to the Mad River Valley. I love our time spent on the Cape. And more than anything, I love coming home.