4th of July part two

I can think of a handful of signs that indicate I had a very good (and very American) 4th of July weekend:
1. I was on water more than I was on land.
2. I was wet more than I was dry.
3. I was drunk more than I was sober.
4. I was outside more than I was inside.
5. I have a lot of salt water in my hair and sand between my toes. At work. On a Monday.
6. I have quite a few serious scratches on my legs from flipping with a small catamaran.
7. I have quite a few burn marks on my arms from being stung by jellyfish.
8. My nose is pink from the sun and my eyes are dark from not sleeping.
9. I haven't eaten anything that wasn't chargrilled since Wednesday.

I feel like I did it justice. Having said that, I was actually quite disappointed in the DC 4th of July. I was imagining a large majority of people I would meet to be wrapped in an American flag with a hand on their heart. At all times. I was expecting spontaneous (not just planned) parades on all streets and small flags to be waved around everywhere. It really was mainly like any other Wednesday. No flags, no parades passed by my apartment. I also missed the fireworks, but I guess that was my own fault for taking so long to get ready for a night out in Adams Morgan.
Anyway, the expectations were then saved by the weekend on Shelter Island, NY (in the Hamptons ca.). There I actually saw fireworks on Saturday, and spent the rest of my time on board different kinds of boats, mostly on a party raft my cousins built (I kid you not it has a VIP floor, a toilet and several bars, it is also almost falling together after seven years in full 4th of July use - I will post a picture when I get home). I was also on a Hobie Cat (the catamaran we flipped), two different row boats, some ferries, as well as a canoe with a tiki torch wired to it. The sun was always up, the sunset was always pink and the beach was packed. We danced salsa on Saturday and swam on Sunday. I left Manhattan at 4.40 this morning and went straight to work when I got to DC. God bless America.