RSS FeedJul 04 2009
The Siege – Otherwise Known as July 4th
Normally, my marina is a lovely, sleepy little floating village with occasional bursts of rowdiness. That doesn’t seem to be the case the weekend of July 4th, however. Then the world invades.
Long-time residents of the marina warned me that I really didn’t want to leave the marina after roughly noon on Thursday or I’d never find a parking spot again until the weekend was over. I decided to chance it and go out for dinner. When I returned, I lucked in to the last available “legal” parking space in the lower parking lot.
As of Friday morning caution tape started getting strung across most of the common places residents park second cars. And, today I hear we’re going to have an actual guard stationed at the gate of the marina. (As it is, there’s two security points where you need a code to get in.) The city of Portland also completely shuts down Marine Drive, the main road along the bank of the Columbia, starting around dinnertime tonihgt.
The reason why all these precautions are being taken is apparently my marina, as the one sitting at the mouth of the Columbia River gorge, is THE spot from which to watch the firework shows along the water. Everyone with a connection to the marina likes to come down to the marina to watch the show either from our rooftop decks or from their boats directly in front of us in the river. Plus there’s a large number of gate-crashers. From the number of large-scale ice chests appearing on front decks, it’s looking like it’s going to be a heck of a party later.
To add to the excitement, more enterprising spirits have established entire camps across from us on McGuire Island. The first round of drunken parties and fireworks kicked off in the camps last night. Things were loud enough that, with my windows open to catch the evening breeze, it felt reminiscent of an oversized Saturday night party in the college dorms. Don’t think I’m going to be getting much sleep this weekend.
So far, Rumi hasn’t been upset by the fireworks. In fact, he’s hugely curious about what’s going on outside. Last night he made a mad dash outside to see what’s going on over on the island. Thankfully, he stopped at the end of my deck and simply did his little meerkat pose on his hindlegs to get a better look at the fireworks.
If it wasn’t so warm this weekend I’d be tempted to keep his life vest on all weekend just in case he gets out again. As it is, I’m just keeping a close eye on him.
Normally, my marina is a lovely, sleepy little floating village with occasional bursts of rowdiness. That doesn’t seem to be the case the weekend of July 4th, however. Then the world invades.
Long-time residents of the marina warned me that I really didn’t want to leave the marina after roughly noon on Thursday or I’d never find a parking spot again until the weekend was over. I decided to chance it and go out for dinner. When I returned, I lucked in to the last available “legal” parking space in the lower parking lot.
As of Friday morning caution tape started getting strung across most of the common places residents park second cars. And, today I hear we’re going to have an actual guard stationed at the gate of the marina. (As it is, there’s two security points where you need a code to get in.) The city of Portland also completely shuts down Marine Drive, the main road along the bank of the Columbia, starting around dinnertime tonihgt.
The reason why all these precautions are being taken is apparently my marina, as the one sitting at the mouth of the Columbia River gorge, is THE spot from which to watch the firework shows along the water. Everyone with a connection to the marina likes to come down to the marina to watch the show either from our rooftop decks or from their boats directly in front of us in the river. Plus there’s a large number of gate-crashers. From the number of large-scale ice chests appearing on front decks, it’s looking like it’s going to be a heck of a party later.
To add to the excitement, more enterprising spirits have established entire camps across from us on McGuire Island. The first round of drunken parties and fireworks kicked off in the camps last night. Things were loud enough that, with my windows open to catch the evening breeze, it felt reminiscent of an oversized Saturday night party in the college dorms. Don’t think I’m going to be getting much sleep this weekend.
So far, Rumi hasn’t been upset by the fireworks. In fact, he’s hugely curious about what’s going on outside. Last night he made a mad dash outside to see what’s going on over on the island. Thankfully, he stopped at the end of my deck and simply did his little meerkat pose on his hindlegs to get a better look at the fireworks.
If it wasn’t so warm this weekend I’d be tempted to keep his life vest on all weekend just in case he gets out again. As it is, I’m just keeping a close eye on him.
Loud drunken camping parties all night long?? Hey, think of it as being at Estrella…only with river front property, more bugs, humidity and no drums!
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