Red Bank 4th of July Fireworks (Held on the 3rd)

Last year I did not attend the Red Bank 4th of July fireworks show (Officially called Kaboom and is actually held on the 3rd) but I made a mental commitment to attend this year. I almost missed them since I thought they were going to be today (July 4th). Fate was looking out for me. I was planning on riding in the evening with the Holmdel group. My daughter wanted to go to Starbucks to get a Frappuccino (the $5 milkshake) and I decided to stop at Smoothie King to get a smoothie before the evening ride.

I parked in front of Smoothie King and Lauren went down the block to Starbucks. Dave the owner of Starbucks has rode with me a couple times. I asked him if he wanted to ride with the Holmdel group. He told me that he would ride if I wanted to work for him. That is when I found out that the fireworks were on Thursday and not on Friday. It looks like the evening ride was going to be preempted.

Lauren and I decided that we go back home and then take the NJ Transit train from Middletown station to Red Bank (A 1 stop 6 minute train ride). The round trip ticket cost $2.75 but the conductor never took it from us and parking at Middletown station cost $6. The train is the way to get to the Red Bank fireworks since Red Banks' stations is centrally located and is a short walk to multiple view spots. The only downside is that everyone has the same idea the the trip back is a little crowded.

Lauren and I have been talking about eating at Juanito's for a while but it has not happened. However, Juanito's is close to the Red Bank station so part of the evening plan was to stop at Juanito's for dinner. Too bad I had already had the smoothie earlier in the day. At least Lauren was still hungry. My tacos were good but I want to come back when I have more of an appetite.
I had not really planned the whole thing out. I was not really sure where to go. I was thinking of going over to the Rt 35 bridge but then I remember the parking lot of the Molly Pitcher Inn. This turned out to be a good decision even though we did not have our own chairs.

The show uses two barges. One was right in front of us and another barge was down the river near Fairhaven. Last year I as riding over the Oceanic Bridge in Rumson when they were taking the barges out. From the parking lot of the Molly Pitcher we could see both sets of fireworks. It was cool since both barges are sync up with each other.

The atmosphere is sort of family friendly Woodstock. The parking lot got a lot more crowded as it got closer to the start of the fireworks show.

As soon as the show finished we sprinted over to the train station and got on the train that was coming through. We were back to the house by 10:30 PM.