The Morning After

It POURED rain this morning. Maybe that was a good thing, considering the mess that was left from the party last night.

At least it was mainly confined to the deck area.
Happy Fifth of July. 

The Party's Over

NYPD helicops making sure all is clear after the fireworks end.
One last look out our loft window to appreciate the red, white, and blue lights of the ESB and Met Life building, in honour of America's Independence Day. 

Still More Fireworks

Upper fireworks section . . .

and the 2 lower firework sections, the one on the left by South Street Seaport, the one on the right between Liberty Island (Statue of Liberty) and Ellis Island. That's the Williamsburg Bridge in the photo.

From our vantage point, we could see all three going off simultaneously.

The third photo shows the "jellyfish" fireworks effect.




Lots of beautiful colors. What a night. 

Umbrella fireworks

Being 2 blocks from the East River, in Williamsburg, gave us a great view of the uppermost section of the three co-ordinated fireworks displays.

Closer.












Extreme close-up.

I Heart Fireworks!

ESB on the horizon on the left. The sunbrella center left, features prominently in my view of the fireworks display, unfortunately.

Some of the "trick" fireworks. These are a double circle which looks really cool.














More fancy stuff.











And one of my favorite - the rings of Saturn. 

Fireworks start!

I always like to see a man in a skirt (center guy, blue t-shirt). This one actually blends in with his mates in the baggy shorts, which often look like skirts from the side-view anyway.

First fireworks we see are off in the direction of Park Slope.










By the time the Macy's Fireworks extravaganza begins, there is a huge crowd on our rooftop. Seriously huge. Like 400 people. Seriously. Huge. I can't believe it holds us all. 

The crowd gathers

There is decking on our roof for people to hang out on, but with this big of a crowd, they spill over onto the rest of the roof . . .

and around our skylight seen in the middle of the picture. This becomes disconcerting later on, after the fireworks, when we have retired to the apt and then see people peering in from above.

Empire State Building (ESB) and our tiny rooftop flag appear together on the horizon. 

Pre-Party Fourth of July

The ice cream trucks are sitting down by the riverside, one at each street N. 9th and N. 8th. As I take pictures of them, people begin streaming in, and its only 5:45! I guess they will have ice cream to eat while they wait for the fireworks which begin at 9:25.








And there is our rooftop, just waiting for the crowd to arrive. Someone has placed a tiny American flag up there already, too small to see in this picture, but very patriotic notheless.

Pre-Fireworks Activity

There was a cop standing at the end N. 9th street all day, so about 5:30pm I walked down there, and what did I see but one of the Firework barges moored right at our soon to be state park.

Look closely and you can see a ton of people hanging out under the canopies on the barge. Are they readying for the show, or just pre-partying?









The Coast Guard watchdogs were there too.

The Urban Etiquette Handbook -- New York Magazine

The Urban Etiquette Handbook -- New York Magazine

I second the motion for better city living savvy, as laid-out and endorsed by New York Magazine. So many suggestions to end my personal pet peeves. Definitely worth your time. Let's spread the etiquette disease!

Zip Car

Alright, I am sensing a trend here. Another environmentally friendly option, a Zip Car, spotted on Main Street in Middlebury.

Town square tip

Not every town goes to the trouble of having benches this comfortable to sit on. There is a slight dip in the center, which you don't really notice until you sit down, but holy cow are they a nice place to rest your weary bum.

Middlebury town triangle, with beautiful fountain and late 19th century brick building in the background. GREAT free wifi connection here, which along with the ergonomically designed benches and beautiful summer morning weather, make it a sweet place to blog from.

Tam crossed fields as well as woods

Another view from the TAM. As well as going through beautiful muddy wooded areas, the TAM crosses through several fields, on mown paths, to give you a real sense of the area. And make you sweat profusely in the sweltering summer sun. At least the trail goes through flooded marshy areas to cool your feet.

Wind Power

Two things you see frequently around here are silos and these these small windmills. There are both 10 and 100 kilowatt versions (of the windmills, not the silos). This is one of the larger 100 kilowatt mills, which generates more power than the individual can use. They sell power back to the electrical grid to make a little money to help chip away at the $35,000-$45,000 price tag of the windmill.

Hard rain last night

Toward the beginning, I encountered this mud bog (the first of many and not the worst).

Coming out at the trailhead, this sign, which wasn't posted across the street, from where I started off in the other direction 6 hours ago. On the e"NO BIKE" sign its written in "very muddy" across the top. I guess this explains why I only met 2 other people on the trail during the entire 6 hours.

I survived the TAM . . .

and lived to tell the locals about it.

Trail Around Middlebury, a an almost very well marked series of public and privately owned trails on the outskirts of the town that have been strung together by volunteers to make a complete circuit 18 miles long in total. I say almost well marked because two of us, each traveling separately, lost the trail at the exact same two places. Other than that, you can see these little yellow signs every few yards on trees, shrubs, or fences along the route.

Highly recommended adventure, that, it seems, many of the locals have never heard of. ??? Sure, this makes for uncrowded trails, but if you lose the trail at any point, even though it goes right through town, chances are that no one you come across can help you pick it up again.

Middlebury Falls running high

The river runs right through the midle of Middlebury. More precisely, the town grew up around the river, which powered the mills.

There has been a lot of rain recently, and the river is really rushing.

In this picture, to the left of the falls, you may be able to see a stone structure that is the remnants of the old powerhouse, which now just serves to enhance the scenery.

Middlebury vermont - home of morgan horses

This is the horse farm of Justin Morgan, who, through selective breeding, created the Morgan Horse breed, right here in Middlebury Vermont. You can tour the grounds between 9-4 daily. And that's not his house, its the hore barn. Ya!