This was first posted on the Romancing the Genres blog.
I’ve never been a fireworks fanatic, and I think it’s because I’m an Alaskan. We shoot some off on the 4th of July, just for tradition’s sake, but it’s not very dramatic. Remember, this is the land of the midnight sun, which means fireworks are hard to see then.
Our best fireworks holidays are in the winter, when it’s dark in the evenings. My favorite fireworks memories are from New Year’s Eve and Fur Rendezvous (an Anchorage winter festival held in February). But there are times when it’s too cold to be outdoors for very long without getting frostbite. I admit I can be a wimp about standing around in the middle of a winter night just to see a few man-made sparkles in the air.
So fireworks are not a big thing to me, unless we’re visiting Outside (outside Alaska) and we see some where it’s warm and dark at the same time. That’s always been a novelty to me—back home, it’s either warm or it’s dark at night, not both.
I guess it’s all in what you’re used to—I love it when I can go to bed in the sunlight in the summertime, but some people can’t sleep when it’s still light out. What’s up with that? ;-)