Our evening of the fourth started out with a hot hike from our wayward parking spot to the gates of Hi Corbett Field to see a Toro's baseball game. How American of us to partake of one of our country's great past times.
Well, apparently, it was a grand idea of thousands of other proud Americans! The park was stuffed and our plans of hot dogs and fireworks bursting over the field were about to change. It was just too much--too crowded, too tight, too much.
So we turned around and hiked back to our car and our new plans were impromptu. First we headed to El Guero Canelos where we enjoyed some authentic Mexican-style, taco-stand cuisine. I got my hot dog after all: a Sonoran style version complete with a bacon-wrapped hot dog, pinto beans, tomatoes, jalapenos, mayonnaise, mustard and grilled onions. Muy bueno!
Then, we were headed home when Gayle, Mike and the kids told us they were at a nearby, tucked-away park to watch the fireworks just west of the freeway, so we did a u-turn to watch the sky with them. "We're in left field," they told us. We swam through the humidity and flying ants to reach them on their beach towels and lawn chairs, little "ohs" and "uh ohs," laughs and worries coming from Nathan as he narrated the evening's display as only he can.
For as crowded and popular as the main road by our neighborhood was with firework watchers on hoods of cars and in the beds of trucks, the park was like a private little haven! We were fixated on the crowd-pleasing bursts of light.
Nathan has just begun to say my name and Kurt's name and it is just the most wonderful thing ever. I'm "Awn" and Kurtis is "Urt." He would say our names as he flip-flopped from lap to lap.
After the light show, we applauded and packed up. On the hike back to the car (for the second time that night), everyone stopped in their tracks when Gayle, Megan and Sarah all three squealed, "Frog!"
I whipped out the camera again. Gayle said, "I hate bugs." And she slapped her leg.
The evening began outside of the gates of left field with dreams of hot dogs and fireworks and what do you know? The evening concluded with tummies nice and full with hot dogs, and in the very grass of left field itself as we watched fireworks in the dark with family, among the frogs.
Happy Independence Day,
Dawn
