Celebrating Independence Day

One of the great benefits of Chuk's job is that on the fourth of July we can go on his building's roof and watch the national fireworks show only two blocks from where they're set off. But because Chuk had to work both days this weekend and had to work again today, he didn't really want to fight the crowds on Metro and then hang around in the heat for hours. Plus, I think he was just getting sick of being in that building. So, at the last minute we sent out an email to five of our friends and neighbors asking if they'd be interested in doing a potluck.

To our surprise, nobody had plans and everybody was into the idea of a cookout. We set up our little charcoal grill in the parking lot of our building and stood around talking, drinking and cooking, like a trashy tailgating party.

We grilled corn on the cob, cheeseburgers, Copper River salmon, two kinds of German bratwursts, and chicken kabobs. We had tossed salad, watermelon and potato on the side and then brownies and berries with poundcake for dessert. All that food for only seven people! It was good.

So there were no fireworks for us, but there was lot of food and friends and laughs, so it was still a pretty great holiday. What did you do?