happy 4th of july!

bikers meeting at around 8:20 - getting glow-sticked and gearing up for the moonrise ride.

a new favorite.

this one, too.

there's our full moon!

Happy, happy 4th of July!

To celebrate the kick-off of this mid-week 4th of July holiday, I went for a firefly ride & picnic with BicycleSPACE.  Awesome decision.  New friends, old friends (I saw another Mali RPCV!) and lots of riding around the city.  Estimates were running at about 600 people!  We met at the park by the Verizon center and at sunset, around 8:40p.m., headed onto the streets en masse.  Blinking red lights, solid yellow glowsticks.  Doesn't get much better.  It rained a little on us but we didn't let that dampen our spirits.

A picnic gathering followed the ride where people munched on watermelon, mac&cheese, fried chicken and your standard picnic fixings, until midnight.  There was enough food (and more) to go around!  Wowsas!  I even made a new friend who is ready to go on the Cupcake Ramble with me :)  Can't say enough good things about the event - thanks so much to BicycleSPACE for putting it on!

See more photos from the ride here! 

Here are some fourth of July memories from 2010 and 2011.

I'm liking Maia Vidal's sweet voice and thoughtful lyrics.  I saw her name here and was curious.

How are you celebrating the fourth of July?  Have you ever seen the fireworks from the Mall?  Any DC recommendations??