Time to Blow Up the Town Again

Here's a picture I took last year of the Fourth of July in SC.

Every year, the inhabitants of San Jose pack their cars full of explosives and come to SC, clogging up Highway 17 and Ocean St. completely. It's illegal to set off fireworks here, but the cops turn their backs on it for an hour to prevent complete carnage once the sun goes down. This semi-formal relaxation of municipal law doesn't stop throngs of idiots from continuing to set off fireworks until the wee hours of the morning, of course, but it probably does keep it from being as bad as it could be otherwise.

Tonight we pick up B's brother from SFO after his ten-week walkabout in Europe. We'll force his jet-lagged ass to hang out with us and drink delicious cocktails for a few days before he heads back to Oregon. I think it's an appropriate welcome back to the US of A to be subjected to explosions.