I can well remember the parking lots of Reston. One of my least favorite ones was the nearly always crowded one over by Best Buy. My car got a few dings there because of the small size of the spaces.
I can also remember going to Macaroni Grill and feeling like that I was going to face mortal combat to come up with a parking spot.
My daughter dislikes the parking lot over by Whole Foods the most. My son who drives a Tundra pickup won't even go there.
Most people are aware that parking spaces come in different sizes depending on where you live. As I pulled into the "parking space" above in Haywood Landing in the Croatan National Forest late in the day on July 4th, it occurred to me that Haywood Landing is about as far away from Reston as you can get when it comes to parking spaces.
It might be an extreme example but on the NC Crystal Coast we actually have grocery store parking lots where you sometimes see a pickup truck pulling a boat parked.
There is even a drive-in restaurant in Morehead City, El's which has random parking to accommodate boats.
I cannot even imagine pulling my boat in Reston. A big pickup with a boat 20ft long, not counting the outboard, just does not seem compatible with Reston, though I know contractors haul around trailers all the time.
People are actually pretty courteous to those hauling a boat down here. It is probably because the majority of the population has a boat and faces the same challenges once in a while.
I am willing to guess that the Reston Association might have something to say about parking a boat in your yard.
Then again, there actually is not a whole lot of water in Reston where you might need a boat with ninety horsepower.
I now live in a world made mostly of water, where the sunsets are often seen from the water and the trips are often up the river instead of to Town Center.
We even did a trip of sixty seven miles in our boat when we went to Shackleford Banks near Beaufort, NC.
I actually wonder if there was a place on July 4th in Reston as uncrowded as we found the spot in Croatan National Forest?
I cannot remember Reston having fireworks, but a search turned up the fact that Reston does indeed do fireworks according to the ladies at Reston Baby.com.
I am sure the Reston fireworks were grand, but the surroundings make the fireworks.
Somehow fireworks at the Emerald Isle beach which ended our day that had included the river trip and our great neighborhood parade followed by a Bogue Sound Watermelon are pretty hard to beat especially when I cannot find a parking spot for the truck and boat in Reston.
When we came in from our short trip over to the beach where we enjoyed some custard ice cream, we did watch the finale of the fireworks on the Mall, but I imagine a few Reston residents enjoyed them the same way.
Even if the fireworks and boat parking are not perfect, Reston has it strong points.
I would like to see the Milwaukee Custard folks take over our custard stand. But I am not as crazy about seeing Five Guys enter the burger competition here since I like the small restaurants.
If you are still looking for a spot to visit where there is plenty of room to play in a boat or even find a large parking spot, you need to book that beach house soon. I understand from our rental people that we were 100% booked for the week of July 4th and that the remaining dates for the rest of the summer are going quickly.
