So let’s say you're thinking of doing something patriotic for the 4th of July weekend. You want to feel patriotic and hear patriotic music. And you want good fireworks, so you want to go somewhere where people are trained to blow things up. West Point Military Academy rolls all of this into one, so that’s where we went on July 3rd. They held their Indepedence Day Celebration at Trophy Point yesterday and as usual it was very enjoyable. They started with their jazz band, the Jazz Knights, then marched in hundreds of new cadets. Then their concert band played a long list of John Williams pieces. It ended with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture which of course was accompanied by cannon fire, and firework salutes. Lauren and Jared each brought a friend along to share the fun. It was very hot to begin with (a lady next to us was carried off with heat stroke), but once the sun went down it was very pleasant.
Marie, Katie, Jared, Michelle and Lauren(The shade has almost reached us!)
The new cadets filing in. Lots of new cadets.
The West Point Concert Band.A word to the wise: If you’re planning on doing this someday with your family I advise you get there very early. For a good spot of grass you’ll probably need to be there by 4:00PM or earlier. We arrived around 5:45 PM and got a patch of rather steeply pitched grass. Too steep for our lawn chairs.
