If they mean to have a war, let it begin here

My dad is a history wonk and is in town, so we took off quite early to get a good seat. By the time I got from the parking space to where my family was, they had set up for our pre-dawn continental breakfast in a spot with only kids and strollers in front. Judging from your photo, we weren't more than a few yards to your left. Of course there are always those few who arrive later and think they can push in. Sorry, but, um, no.

For future reference, if you get the kids over to the side by the grandstands, the organizers will take them all up to the front as the British approach ... well, not the front(!), but to some of the best seats in the house! Back in 2006, I handed my eldest (then 10) my camera as he followed the guy over to the kid area and he got some great pictures.

I love the feeling of driving through the quiet streets and seeing the thousands of people once you reach Lexington center. Makes you feel a little less crazy for waking up before dawn to ostensibly watch a bunch of grown men play dress up.

And they get me every time with the "Don't fire unless fired upon! And if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!" line.

We'd been saying we were going to go see this for weeks. So we dutifully set our alarm for 5:00, got up and managed to get out the door at 5:30. Lexington is about 20 minutes from our house, so we reached the Battle Green in our car around 5:50. Needless to say, we were at least an hour too late to find parking or have any chance of seeing the battle. *SIGH*

NEXT year we'll try again an hour earlier. I'll remember the tip about bringing a ladder. I did indeed see several people carrying ladders on the way to the Green and wondered why.