Greetings from the hottest day of the year.  Let’s backtrack…

If you are looking for something original to do on the 4th of July, consider walking around your nearest city (bonus points if it’s the Creative Capital).  While everyone else burns at the beach, take advantage of the quiet.  Stroll from one end to the other and hit every nook and cranny (winky face).  Explore with iced tea and curiosity.  Consider trying the old penny walk trick or making a list of things you’re thankful for over yummy samiches (extra bonus points if you get free pickles, too).  Feel the sun, find the shadows.  Download a timer cam app (no one is around to take a cheesy couplish photo for you, and no one is around to watch while you struggle to capture yourselves in the frame).  Take touristy pictures.  Sit down on every bench, read about famous singers you never knew lived (and died) in the area, pretend you go to RISD (and then Brown).  Choose your favorite building on the block, and then choose again.  Regale your patient manfriend with every architectural fact you’ve learned in the past month, and feel dang smart doing it.  Trek home, commence nap.  Wake, pack picnic, and place yourself under fireworks.

Actually, forget all that.  Continue running away to the beach and leave the secluded city to us. :)

photo of me by Michael Collins, photo of us by iPhone-gen youth taking exorbitant amount of selfies.