My best friend came into town along with Miguel's twin brother, Juan, Juan's girlfriend, Jessie, college friend, Jacob, and Jacob's fiancee, Katie. We did our fair share of contributing to the tourists =)
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| My bestie and me! |
Friday night a bunch of our friends and their multiple house guests got together at our friend, Jason's, house. When Miguel and I pulled up to Jason's house this is what we were greeted with:
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| Friends on the roof |
Such silliness! Miguel and I didn't climb up on the roof... but we got into the party spirit by wearing some green and a leprechaun hat. =) We didn't stay too late because I had to get up early the next morning...
One of the big draws here in Savannah is the St. Patrick's Day Parade. It's a lonnnnnng parade and in many ways feels very small town to me. The allure of parade isn't necessarily watching the parade, but more of the tailgating that goes hand-in-hand with it. This tailgating part of the equation is what had me waking up at 4:30 in the morning! People set up "tailgating" in the squares along the parade route. The squares don't "open" until a whistle is blown at 6:00 AM the day of the parade. This doesn't mean that people don't show up way before that to wait it out though... once that whistle is blown it is a full out race to get the coveted spots. People are nuts about it. Some have had their family "spot" for years, and will fight to make sure they retain that special location. I was determined to get a spot this year, especially since we had such a large party of people when you added all our friends up. The night before Miguel and I parked one of our cars along the square we decided on. We packed it full of all our big items and non-perishable things we might need the next morning. This was such a great suggestion from a co-worker and Savannah native who has many St. Patrick's Day parades under her belt. It took a lot of pressure off of me to know that all I had to do the next morning was be dropped off (instead of fighting for street parking) and run to a spot. Though we thought we were prepared, the rush of the crowd running at 6 AM startled us a little bit and we were a little late to the game. We didn't end up with a spot along the street with good parade views, but we did claim a good section of the square.
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| People setting up their tailgates at 6:00 AM |
After Miguel dropped me off and helped me carry stuff out of the parked car, he headed to Jason's house to wake up friends and bring them and coffee back to me to wait it out till the parade started at 10.
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| A couple of hours before the parade started... getting busier! |
I was so thankful for friends coming to keep me company! While we waited Miguel then headed back to our house to wake up our house guests and drag them out of bed to the parade. Miguel was so busy doing all that driving! He's the best!
We had a really fun time hanging out during the parade. We played corn hole, drinking games, and spent time with new and old friends! We didn't end up leaving till 3 in the afternoon... I was pretty sleepy. We all ended up taking naps when we got back to the house. But hey, that's why you visit Savannah on St. Patrick's Day right? To partake in the festivities? If you don't want to be in Savannah and enjoy the events that makes St. Patrick's Day here famous, then please don't come... stay home and go to bars in your own city ;)
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| Juan and his girl friend |
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| Miguel enjoying spending time with Greg and Juan |
I love how much the city gets into the holiday. Everywhere you looked there was green. You looked absolutely ridiculous if you weren't wearing green. I love themes and green is my favorite color... what a fun holiday!
Among the hundreds of thousands of visitors we had this weekend, we happened to set up our camp in the same square as my best friend's little brother, David!
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| Family love! |
So much fun! I watched David grow up from diapers! Now he is starting medical school in the fall! I'm so glad we got to see him!
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| Look! He's wayyy taller than me now... still strange in some ways ;) |
Like I previously said, I was pretty tired later that evening from being up so early, so I didn't want to do much Saturday night. After everyone eventually woke up from their naps, we headed to dinner and then I took Miguel and our guests downtown and then I came home and crashed into bed! Ahhh it felt so good! You know that feeling when all you want to do is shut your eyes and have a heavy, deep sleep? Mmmmm... =)
All in all I had a pretty good St. Patrick's Day... huge crowds and all! And I feel better prepared for next year! Bring on round three, Savannah! One of these years will have St. Patrick's Day here nailed down!
