I love Saratoga

The fireworks at Congress Park were AMAZING. I will DEFINITELY go back next year to see them. Saratoga has always had wonderful firework displays though, because we used to go to the Harness Track to see them years ago. But it's just too crowded there and not enough bathrooms so we stopped. But they were amazing there, and they're amazing in Congress, so I'm good. Congress was crowded too, but since there's no admission fees and it's a wide open park, it doesn't seem like it. At the Harness Track you have fences all around and that just doesn't work for me. The other thing with Congress is, even though they're porta-potties, there are enough of them that there aren't huge lines, plus there are local venues you can go to. xD

The only issue of the day, was with my car. See, I brought my friend Brendan with me, and was under the impression that we were meeting up with Megan at the carousel. Well, no, we were supposed to meet up at her house, and she'd give me gas money. So, Brendan and I went to my luck-gotten parking spot in the parking garage and went to start the car to get her.

Only the car wouldn't start. D:

It made this fast clicking sound, and the dashboard lights flashed in unison with it, and my radio console got locked out and the clock reset. Oh shit. So I call Dad's cell phone since he was supposed to be at the ambulance building, no answer. I left a message, called home. Mom was glad I had Brendan with me, but was worried it was the alternator. Great. But she gave me the number to the ambulance building, and I called there. No answer because it rang, and then went to what sounded like dial up as it connects to the internet. Double shit. Thankfully, Dad got my message and called me back, said he was on his way. Thank god. At the same time, Brendan called his parents, explaining the situation to them, and they were also willing to come out and help if needed.

So I called Megan, and told her to stay put because we didn't know what was going on.

Dad didn't know where the parking garage was though, so I ran to the street corner to direct him down. He's easy to spot when he has his ambulance core shirt on, it's obnoxiously bright. xD And my hair sticks out in a crowd. So we hooked jump cables up to the car, after having to push it backwards and block off a bit of the parking garage traffic area.

It started. Phew, it's only the battery. Not the alternator, or the starter. So I called Meg and told her to hop the bus since we didn't know how long that charge would hold and I wanted it to start when we were ready to leave. But it started without the jumpers so we felt pretty safe. Rolled it back into its spot, and Dad headed home. Said to call if we needed anything, and left me the jump cables just in case.

All the while there was an officer who came to the parking garage (since someone else needed to be towed and was leaving just as Dad got there) who checked up on us occasionally just to be sure we didn't need any help. Never gave us any trouble, and was really nice. We have a good police force in Saratoga. ^^

So Brendan and I went back into the park, walked around, I took some photos, and then we went back to the carousel an hour later to wait for Megan, since she said it'd take an hour to get there.

Hour and a half later, no Megan. It's 8:30pm now, and they're getting ready for the fireworks. Well, we decided we'd go secure a good place and headed over to where they were going to do the display. We'd waited for an hour and a half after all without spotting her. We only left our spot waiting for her once, too, at 8pm to go grab my tripod. And of course, on the way back to wait for her again this kid was all "I want my picture taken! Take my picture!" so I did... he was odd. Never gave a name or anything to get a hold of it. Just wanted his photo taken. Oh well, it's Saratoga, they exist. xD

Also saw one of the historical reenactors, and did a photo for another couple who wanted a picture with him (he was Guidian Putnam) with their camera. It was pretty cool. I didn't ask to take his photo though, because he seemed to be pretty busy and I'm a bit too anal about my portraits. Bad backdrop with all those people. xD

But yes, we went over to get a spot, set up the tripod, and waited. While we waited I decided that the glow-stick balls this woman was putting together for her kids were the COOLEST thing since sliced bread. I WANTED them. Man... gotta find myself one. OwO

But the fireworks started, just as I got a call from Megan. She couldn't find us, (upon calling it back later that night I discovered it was from Stewarts, not a friend's cell phone. x'D She doesn't own a cell phone but I wish she did) and we tried to give her a location but it didn't work. Brendan and I were both glad we saw the display though, because it rocked. Some of the explosions were so loud that the ground shook. <3

We did find Megan at the carousel later that evening. After running into people from Galway we didn't know (started talking to them when they were discussing a family member that taught there, turned out to be Mr. Reynold's brother x'D), which just proves Senora Peter's theory right: you can't go anywhere without meeting up with someone else from Galway. x'D I mean, we ran into Aeriel and Mike too. But anyways, we did finally meet up after the fireworks with Megan. She and I were on the same wavelength to go back to the carousel.

So we chatted, and then headed to the car. Well, it almost started... almost. Turned over halfway and went back to the clicking. Rather than call my dad though, we went and asked this random group if they could jump us, and they did. So the car started, and I dropped Megan off before heading home. Switched the car out for Dad's truck, and brought Brendan home. If Megan hadn't been on the way, I wouldn't have dropped her off first. And for the love of using gas (haha) I did NOT turn the car off. D:

Dad switched the battery today. So now I have to go to a GM/Pontiac dealer and get my radio unlocked so I can play CDs again. Friggin' anti-theft-needing-a-code system. >(

But, at least the fireworks were pretty! Right?


Fireworks Fountain of Glitter by *Saknika on deviantART


Swinging Rings of Fire by *Saknika on deviantART


Firework Waterfall by *Saknika on deviantART