Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Down South...Day Sixty-Two...Saturday, January 30, 2010...Gasparilla!






Molly's got cool reserved seating for the Gasparilla Parade, and she's long gone before I even wake up.
Still...I'm up around 8:00AM, and Ed has suggested that we leave by 10:00AM or so. There's a big crackdown on alcohol this year, so we opt not to take a cooler full of beers with us.
By 11:00AM, we're downtown and parked...for free! Our friend, Bud Levell, is a major player in the "Roughriders Crewe", and we find him way back at the very start of the parade where all of the floats are massed. Gasparilla is a great opportunity to wear a cool costume, drink a lot and ride in a parade...and we see plenty of participants.
The weather is cool and windy...plus, they're predicting rain later. So...around 12:30 or so, we head over to the Colonnade Restaurant (a Tampa tradition) for lunch. A few beers and a great lunch later, we're ready to head outside again. The rain has come, but it's pretty light when we get back to the Parade route. We watch float after float roll by...then...a police officer directs us off of the parade route and over to the other side of Bayshore Boulevard. By now, it's raining pretty hard again, so we head back to the Colonnade to wait for Molly who is en route from the "VIP Stand" a few miles down the parade route. Soon, Molly joins us for a few final cocktails before we head home...wet, but happy.
Back at home, we're cooking up the leftover skirt steak with some onions to make a great batch of tacos...with more fries! And, of course, the obligatory giant bowl of strawberries and vanilla ice cream.
It's been a long day. and...one by one...we sputter out and head off to bed. A long day, but a great day.

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