freedom celebrations in dallas

This year was the first time I have spent the 4th of July weekend in Texas, even though this is my fourth year living here.  Since I'm not sure if I will be here next year I decided to see what was happening in the city that I could attend (preferably free).  : ) 

On Saturday (July 2nd) I went east of Dallas to Terrell where there is a peach orchard.  A couple of my friends from church invited me to go with them.  They sell homemade peach and strawberry ice cream that is absolutely AMAZING!!!  They are only open from May 15 through August 15, but considering the amount of people that were crammed into their little store it looks like they do a huge amount of business.  I hope I can go back before they close this summer. 

On Sunday (July 3rd) I went to Kaboom Town in Addison, TX which is a suburb in the middle of North Dallas.  There were oodles and oodles and oodles of people there!  Here is a picture of one small part of the crowd.  

There was a air show

And then the Dallas Wind Symphony played

And then a great fireworks show.  AOL.com reported that this fireworks show is the 3rd best in the nation after Macy's in New York and one in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  I enjoyed it. : )  The video is of the last minute or so of the show and the sound is not very great and very loud because I was too close to the speakers.  You might want to turn the sound down low.  Oh . . . and it's sideways, because I couldn't rotate the video like a picture. : /

On Monday (July 4th) I went to Fair Park Fourth, which was the official celebration of Dallas.  Fair Park is where the State Fair of Texas is held every year.  Again, there were oodles of people.  And it was super hot all weekend!!!  At least 100 degrees. : / 

One of my favorite things at Fair Park Fourth was the Esplanade Dancing Fountain Show.  It was synchronized to a recording of the Dallas Wind Symphony.  (sorry the video is a bit shaky . . . you might need to turn the volume up to hear the music playing)

There was a fireworks show that we got to watch while sitting in the Cotton Bowl.  

It was kind of fun to be inside a stadium that was opened in 1929 and has so much history (at least for sports people).  : ) 

I had a blast!  And thanks to much sunscreen, didn't get too burnt. : )  Here's a little part of Dallas from the Cotton Bowl at night.  I think that it finally feels a bit like home.