Growing up at my family home place, we watched the fireworks from folding chairs in the back yard, or that's where the grown-ups sat, while we burned "snakes" on the sidewalk and waved sparklers around. When it was fully dark, we saw the town fireworks in a clear spot between the trees. We did miss the waterfall close to the ground, but everything else was in clear view, all the way to the finale. Later at my first house with my late wife, we'd walk or drive up to the the campus across the street, with a special high-ground area where we could watch with a gathered crowd the fireworks at the not-distant state fairgrounds. Again, we missed one or two fireworks close to the ground but saw everything else, and joined the distant crowd in the cheers at the end. I love good pyrotechnics, and I enjoy it more when it is pure percussion, not supplemented by someone's idea of appropriate music, whatever that may be -- just boom-boom kaboom. It's a lovely show. One year we watched the NYC fireworks in the River, sponsored by Macy's, which is amazing in person.
