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Packed=hard to sit. All parking and whatnot is gone hours and hours before.
I think I mentioned before the key is the wind. Sit upwind. Check the weather. You don't want the smoke to obscure your view (and during the finale, if you are downwind you won't see a thing).
As for the driving question--I think you're going to spend a long time getting across town, especially if you barrel out K Street to try and get home. M will probably be packed as well. You might try going North a bit to P or Q and then cutting over through North Georgetown on Reservoir to McCarthur to avoid the inner chaos, or even go further north to say head straight north out of town, cut over in Adams Morgan or something and then up to Tenleytown, down Foxhall and back to the bridge.
You might get lucky, or you might get stuck. I think the first 10 blocks are going to be the hardest as you'll have some pedestrians competing with the lights downtown.
Thanks, I actually live in NW DC and I'm thinking about just riding my bike (about 10 min trip) to find a good spot. I'm not into camping out hours before the fireworks. Ideally, I'd like to find a spot on where I can just roll up on, check out the fireworks, and then ride back home. I'm thinking someplaces that would be low key but no obscured by some of the buildings near the mall... Any ideas?? (Potomac Park, Le E'Faint (sp?) plaza come to mind).
The area around the volleyball courts on Rock Creek/Maine Avenue just past the Lincoln Memorial, but that's a bit low. It's on the RC bike path though.
You could bike over the Key Bridge to the Iwo Jima memorial then toward the Netherlands Carillon. Stay on your bike on the side of the road. Great view.
Aren't there some places in Upper NW that are cool? Like around 14th and Meridian Hill Park? The kids in Gtown Univ have a great view from the one 'dorm' next to the library. On the roof there is stunning (and often open to whomever gets there)
I have to say, it was easier than I thought to go to the fireworks. Granted, I didn't really have to drive or take the Metro, which I'm sure made it much easier. We got to the Mall around 8:15 (down by 4th Street), meandered up towards the Washington Monument and ended up grabbing a spot next to my friends' relatives just NE of the monument. Even if we hadn't run into them there was plenty of space up until that point to sit. Afterwards, we just hung out in my place for about an hour before I drove my friends home to Arlington. I suppose another option would be to go to a bar in the area to wait it out, as well.
I have to say, it was easier than I thought to go to the fireworks. Granted, I didn't really have to drive or take the Metro, which I'm sure made it much easier. We got to the Mall around 8:15 (down by 4th Street), meandered up towards the Washington Monument and ended up grabbing a spot next to my friends' relatives just NE of the monument. Even if we hadn't run into them there was plenty of space up until that point to sit. Afterwards, we just hung out in my place for about an hour before I drove my friends home to Arlington. I suppose another option would be to go to a bar in the area to wait it out, as well.
Taking the metro back wasn't even a big deal either. I had envisioned this horrible mass exodus with like blocks and blocks of people to the point that you can barely move...we were home in 45 minutes (it usually takes 30-35 min), got on the very first train that got there, sat in the back car which wasn't even half full. The only back-ups were getting on the escalator and going through the gates (which would be helped if people actually knew how they worked. ugh)
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