Fireworks from the Charles

This year for July 4 a friend and I decided to watch the fireworks from kayaks in the river - so fun! Two thumbs up. Would do again.

We strategized about our paddle and decided that it might be easier to get parking if we went earlier in the day - so we drove over there, parked my friend's car with all the heavier stuff in it, and then biked home. We both biked back to meet at 8. Biking home I took a blue bike and went over the river to check out the action while people were waiting. They had already closed Storrow, so I was able to bike down the road, which was pretty cool, and I watched everyone walk around and get set up for later in the day. There was such a huge police presence, it was pretty crazy. I saw one of the police dogs eating a stick, so not everything was serious. I took a regular bike at first, but then about half way home I switched to an ebike - they are just so much easier. For the ride back I took my own bike and went down Mem Drive, it was starting to get a little crazy by that point.

My friend has an inflatable kayak so we took her kayak and most of the other stuff down to the river in a wagon she has. Then I went back and got my kayak, because the foldable is easier to set up. There was a picnic happening, and a lot of bollywood music, which was kind of funny for July 4, but it was a fun atmosphere. We launched around 9 ish and paddled from BU bridge almost to Mass Ave bridge, and then dropped anchor near the MIT boathouse. We used an old cinderblock and a dog leash for the anchor - it took a while to come up with that, and unfortunately the cinder block was too heavy to pull back up, so it had to stay in the river at the end.

Once we dropped anchor and tied together we just hung out chatting for a while. I pulled the pops concert up on my phone and we enjoyed being out on the water. The fireworks were amazing, as they always are! So big and they go on for so long. From right by the MIT boathouse we could see perfectly. It was a really good spot to watch from. 

As soon as the fireworks ended people raced off to try to beat the crowd. On the water that meant that there were kayakers zipping past us - it was pretty amazing. Then there was the crowd that was in less of a hurry - there were so many human powered boats on the water. You could see the lights everywhere, and it was all kinds. The most popular were the kayaks, but then there were also canoes, paddleboards, some funny looking rowboats, and someone had one of those boats that you move with bike peddles. My friend and I headed back and it was so fun to be a part of this huge crowd paddling down the river. 

I was a little worried that it would be hard to get out because the boat ramp wasn't that big, but it was totally fine, no issues at all. We packed up our stuff and headed back (which was much easier without the cinder block - we did it in one trip.) Even the ride home was no problem, we ran into a little traffic but honestly not much. Definitely the way to do the fireworks! We both agreed that we would love to go again next year. The one change that I would make is trying to bring two anchors because we kept turning during the fireworks and it was a little bit of a pain to have to keep the boat facing the right direction.