June 30, 2000
Web posted at: 1:16 p.m. EDT (1716 GMT)

EVENTS GUIDE Click for a map of July 4th festivities across the U.S.

QUIZ YOURSELF Test your knowledge of July 4th trivia!     PLAY BALL It's America's favorite pastime. Click for the Major League schedule

(CNN) -- With promises of pyrotechnics, picnics and parades, Americans are igniting their patriotic passions, as the United States gets ready to celebrate its 224th birthday.

Many people will spend the day gathered around barbecues and pools, relaxing with family and friends.

Others -- an estimated 37.5 million Americans -- are expected to travel for the holiday, according to a survey by the AAA Auto Club South. It shows towns and rural areas are the most popular destinations (25 percent), followed by oceans and beaches (20 percent).

Those attending the traditional July Fourth festivities on the National Mall can admire the Washington Monument's $10 million face-lift, as they watch fireworks explode above the white marble and granite obelisk.

A ceremony will mark the three-year renovation on July 3. But the monument doesn't officially reopen until July 31.

President Clinton won't be in the nation's capital for Independence Day celebrations. He's scheduled to visit New York, where a fleet of tall ships and warships will parade along the Hudson River.

Some cities, like Dallas/Forth Worth, are going for a more down-home feel, with old-fashioned picnics, watermelon seed-spitting contests and sack races. Other places are approaching the holiday with the spirit of 1776, hiring a town crier with colonial fifes and drums, re-enacting battles against the British redcoats and reading the Declaration of Independence.

Reuters contributed to this report.

CNN Weather Forecasts
City Profiles: In-depth guides to more than 50 cities
World Maps and Guides: Maps and related site links
Driving Directions
Currency Converter

Norman Lear plans traveling show for U.S. Declaration of Independence
June 30, 2000
Rare copy of Declaration of Independence sells for $8.1 million
June 29, 2000
Concerns over terrorism force U.S. to cancel two overseas July Fourth celebrations, State Department says
June 29, 2000
That's entertaining: French coleslaw for the Fourth of July
June 28, 2000
Survey: Gas prices won't put brakes on summer travel
June 23, 2000
Money-saving ideas for Major League junkies
April 3, 2000
CNN.com/Food: 4th of July
July 1999
How to avoid fireworks danger
July 2, 1999
America's food is as diverse as its culture
July 1, 1999
Cooking safely outdoors presents challenge
July 5, 1996