Independence Day Done Right

Yesterday was a great day to celebrate the 4th of July in Washington D.C. After an all day marathon BBQ with friends and family, a few of us went over to Cardozo High to catch the fireworks. Cardozo High sits on a massive hill alongside 13th street and, in my opinion, has the best view of the entire city. You can see both the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building and pretty far into Northern Virginia from the top of the school (around 13th and Clifton). I knew this would be a great place to watch the fireworks, but I didn't realize how cool of an experience it would be. In addition to a great view of the fireworks shot from the National Mall, people were also setting off all kinds of fireworks from the school's basketball courts and the surrounding streets. The atmosphere was a complete frenzy, there was singing, dancing, and partying all around us. I can honestly say it was the most exciting 4th of July celebration day I have ever seen. One of the coolest things we came across that night was a group of Capoeira dancers. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art dance that blends dance moves with fighting techniques like kicks and sweeps. It was amazing to see so many people from so many different backgrounds coming together to celebrate the 4th of July and have one big party. It was also amazing to see so many unsupervised kids running around shooting fireworks at each other. I tried to post as many pics as I could from last night, but no picture can really replace the experience of being there. Despite almost getting blown away by a giant firework on my way home, Cardozo is definitely going to become a yearly tradition for me.