Post-parade

[bobquasit]

	We survived. All in all the parade was about a 90-minute walk, most of it downhill. It was chilly in the morning at the waiting area, but that was bearable. Sebastian had a blue lollipop - we had a bunch of them to toss to kids in the crowd - and turned his tongue Cub Scout blue, or close to it. Here's a photo of him. The white tube he's carrying is the troop banner; the kids took turns holding it during the march. I took a fair number of photos of the floats as we were all waiting for the parade to start. It's a good thing I did, because we didn't get to see them at all once we started walking! There was a huge float for a dance studio, with a bunch of girls doing different kinds of dances; they even had one of those bars that they use to stretch on. I had to wonder if they could dance while the float was in motion. There was a pirate ship which represented some sort of swordfighting pirate entertainment group, a Knights of Columbus float which seemed to be advocating theocracy under the cover of the the First Amendment, and a party float with what appeared to be beauty queens on it. We also spotted a dragon float. But most of the floats were far behind us, and we didn't get to see them. Eventually the parade began. Sebastian didn't fuss much, although both of our feet hurt a lot when we were done. In addition to the four miles or so of the parade itself, we walked at least another mile going back to the Elks club to have his picture taken (they sponsor his troop, and wanted a photo with the scouts), and then walking around the Autumnfest.
	I was surprised at how large and pretty the Autumnfest area was. We've never been there before - that is, not only have we never been to the Autumnfest before, but we've never been to the area (the "Social Ocean") where it was held - even though it's only a few minutes from our house. It has a bad reputation. Two men died in the swimming area there, and swimming is no longer allowed. Apart from that, Teri had told me that there were a lot of bad teens there, and possibly gangs, and drugs. Nonetheless, there were a lot of places that were quite pretty. Here's a photo of what I call the Pipe-Fountains at the Social Ocean.
	We went on a few rides. I took this from the top of a Ferris wheel. Sebastian went on a long slide, and then he went on the bumper cars. That done, I bought him fries and a cheeseburger, and then we had ice cream - Dicianci's, and it was very good.  We sat on an old piece of field artillery while we had our ice cream, and Sebastian leaned on me. He was tired. We could have walked home from there in about twenty to thirty minutes, but Teri was just finishing work and it was no problem to meet her at Dunkin Donuts for a ride home. The rest of the day was spent quietly, and Sebastian just fell asleep a few minutes ago. God, I'm tired. But I have to say that the parade was a lot of fun - it was a new experience for me. It's pretty neat walking down the middle of a street with people thronged on all sides, waving and cheering and smiling!