The 4th New York Style

So last week Dust was here with me in New York and we got to celebrate the 4th in an all American city.  We planned on going to the beach if the weather was nice Monday thru Wednesday was all about the heat and rain and Thursday was a sunny forecast.  We woke up and it was nice had a little breakfast at our hotel.

Armed with our suits and probably the least amount of beach gear ever we boarded a Q train headed to Coney Island.  Neither Dust nor I have ever been so we figured why not! It was already a scorcher even at 11am.  Upon arrival we discovered the Nathan's 4th hot dog eating contest complete with Joey chesnut was in Coney island (I thought it was in times square). Joey Chestnut ended up eating 69 hot dogs!!!  This made the sidewalks impassable so we just watched a the tops of people's heads who "maybe" could see the hot dog eating.  

We bought a few towels and umbrella at a beach shop and hit the beach.

The beach was wall to wall people.  It immediately struck me too that it didn't smell like ocean outside either.  We put up our umbrella and Dustin hid himself under it.   Being a ginger Dustin gets sunburnt walking past windows so 95 degree heat and direct sunlight not the best.  I immediately took myself into the water.  The water was refreshing but seemed dirty but when you swam beyond the crowd was cleaner.  We hung out on the beach for a while then wandered the boardwalks.  Then we took the train back into the city, but not without first paying Zoltar so I could become "Big". Sadly I did not grow up!  ;)

After some showers and naps we were ready for the NYC fireworks we walked the 11 Avenues and times square to discover the roads were closed and the sidewalks outside the waterfront were jam-packed.  (If you want to see NYC fireworks on the river you must show up at like 3pm). We did find a place where the buildings only partially obstructed and we got to see the fireworks which are really long and spectacular and only part of them was blocked.  However in hindsight next time we want to see them in NYC iwill stay   in another  hotel or I will watch them on tv, because the heat of the city + the heat of the summer + wall to wall people not really my scene.  But still it was a good day.  Happy birthday USA!