Hey everybody! Hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day with your families and friends. Matt and I watched the fireworks show over the retired Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington. The fireworks were set to go off at 9:05, and we got to the riverfront about an hour early. It was already packed, and there really wasn’t anywhere to stand or to get good pictures of the action. Luckily, the crew of the USCGC Diligence very graciously allowed us to come aboard to view the fireworks from the flight deck.

The show was amazing, single-handedly the best fireworks show I have ever seen. Can you imagine the largest fireworks show in North Carolina exploding riverfront over a battleship? What made it even more incredible was the fact that, being aboard the Diligence (which is directly across the river from the North Carolina), the fireworks were exploding directly above us. This meant that ashes from the blasts were literally raining down on us the entire time. No complaints though! There is a hotel right behind the Diligence, and the acoustics were incredible. The sound bounced off of the hotel, so you felt as if there were explosions going off all around you. Again, it was amazing.

Here are some photos and video from tonight.

Happy Fourth of July!