I live in Lincoln, ND. Why? I don't know. The winters are below zero cold, the summers hot and humid. Summer storms bring wind, hail and tornado's and winter has blizzards and bitter cold. It's usually too windy to enjoy being outside. Basically the weather mostly sucks.
We are located just outside of Bismarck, which is the second largest city and also the capitol of North Dakota. It has a population of about 100,000 people and Lincoln has approximately 2,000. We don't have any professional sports teams, no giant race tracks, no 5 star restaurants or famous hotels. We are surrounded by prairie, farms and cattle ranches.
But once a year for about a week fireworks are legal in North Dakota. Bismarck doesn't allow them in city limits but Lincoln does so a lot of our friends and family come here to celebrate our country and our freedom. They also bring their fireworks as well.
Last night in perfect mid seventies temperatures and under clear skies, Lincoln, ND celebrated America. Last night for two solid hours nonstop the skies were filled with a barrage of fireworks the likes of which I can't describe. You could not look in any direction and not see explosions of light and color. You had to shout to talk to people next to you. It wasn't just above us, it was everywhere. You couldn't see it all, it was overwhelming!
When, finally, it slowly sputtered and all was quiet except for the occasional pop and bang here and there you literally could not see more than 5 houses down for the smoke. It hung like thick fog in the air, it was hard to breathe.
It wasn't some strange abnormality or coincidence that so many people came together with so many fireworks, it's like this every Fourth of July. There may not be a lot of big city perks or distractions here but I just have to say, Lincoln,ND, you rock!
rkanjl
(Archangel)
