July 4th

In Chicago fireworks are done downtown on the third and in the suburbs on the fourth so we went downtown to be part of the action and participated in A Taste of Chicago with about a million other people. . .literally. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not, that was the count. There was almost no walking room for three blocks!!! Then we watched the fireworks by the lake with Ben's friend Gary. It was so very crowded but fun, and the food was awesome. We had some Jerk chicken from an African restaurant, some curry and tamarind chutney French fries from a Thai place and a caramel apple from a place that was selling whole barbecued turkey legs, people were going mad for those. For full constrast, on the fourth we walked to a neighbor's house about two blocks away and watched the fireworks from their back yard with only about 8 other people. . . and a raccoon. It came down from the tree right next to us and ran away from the sound. Then it came back and ran around. I've never seen one that close before. I have to say, the fireworks in the suburbs may have been better than the ones in the city.