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| Hint: That's the Atlantic Ocean. |
I'll do a real post about the trip soon -- we were there for 3 days, so it may even stretch out to more than one post. Meanwhile, let me get back to some of the catching up that I'm sooo faaaaar behind on...
On May 21st, the town of Olney held its annual Olney Days parade and, as we always try to, we scheduled our day around it. AJ & Miri's Girl Scout troop was marching again this year (Dude, weren't they just a Brownie troop...?!?) so AJ picked up our old Radio Flyer wagon from Mom & Dad's garage a couple of days ahead of time to haul the candy that the girls were to give out along the parade route (and maybe, if necessary, haul 1 or 2 of the girls as well).
The weather on parade day was nice, but a bit on the cool & breezy side. We managed to get into Olney before they started closing too many of the roads, and I ran into Giant for some last-minute sandwich fixin's while Mom & Dad staked out a good spot on the sidewalk. It wasn't long before we were juggling paper plates, rolls and such while simultaneously trying to keep our napkins & chip bags from flying away on the breeze...
As we ate lunch, the crowds around us continued to grow, and soon the sidewalk was covered with people. Shortly before the parade was scheduled to begin, the police closed off the northbound side of Georgia Avenue and pretty soon we could see people popping out of the crowd to take photos in the middle of the normally jam-packed street while craning their necks to see if the parade had begun.
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| Georgia Avenue looks like this at midday exactly one time per year! |
And then, finally, we could see the flagpoles of hte honor guard at the head of the parade slowly rise up from behind the upgrade, and the parade soon came into sight. (Note: I'm only including photos of some highlights from the parade; there are a LOT more photos of the marchers, vehicles, and floats on my hard drive!)
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| The local firehouse looks small, but it's a bit like a TARDIS -- there is a LOT inside! |
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| Just the first of MANY troops... |
One of the good things about the Olney Days Parade is that volunteers hand out pamphlets that let everyone know the order of the parade, so if you're interested in a particular group or float, you'll know when to keep an eye out for them. One of the not-so-good things about the Olney Days Parade is that the actual order of groups in the parade almost never matches what's printed in the pamphlets... and this year was no execption. Miri's troop was scheduled to be near the middle of the parade, coming long after several of the other Girl Scout, Brownie, Boy Scout, Cub Scout, and other such troops had marched past. I was just shooting this & that with my camera, enjoying some of the classic cars going past, when I realized that someone in the viewfinder looked darn familiar...
Hey, waitaminit... they're not supposed to be here for another 20 minutes...
...but they sure as all get-out are here now!
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| My sister in her ongoing attempt at herding cats... |
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| Do you want some candy, Uncle Brian? |
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And with that, my sister & niece (along with the rest of their Girl Scout troop) disappeared down the parade route...!
There was still plenty o'parade left to see, so here are just a few selected highlights...
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| At Miri's dance studio, even the pickup truck wears a tutu! |
The contingent from the local American Legion post included this lovely lady, older than yours truly and in much better shape...!
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| Yes, America, there really IS still a Soapbox Derby! |
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| He sits up there every year. Must like the view or somethin'. |
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| Ya can't have a parade without a beauty queen, can ya? |
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| Somebody was having a bad day... this really isn't a posed shot! |
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| Why does St. John's have the same mascot as Miri's school...?!? |
The Classic Thunderbird Club International was well-represented... this trio had lots of similar company scattered throughout the parade.
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| Why tow a trailer when you can tow the entire campsite? |
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| This month marks 5 years cancer-free for my sister! |
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| You definitely don't see one of these every day... |
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| Whoa... Me want! |
The parade organizers obviously have a sense of humor because... Well, the drool-worthy Corvette shown above was the next-to-last item in the parade -- and guess what was placed immediately behind it to mark the end of the parade?
The last two drivers had a good sense of humor (and perhaps of the absurd), too, because they kept taking turns revving their engines at each other and the appreciative crowd.
There was a bit of a traffic jam as the last dozen or so vehicles tried to turn the corner at the end of the parade route onto a street totally jammed with the slowly-dissolving parade, but eventually most of Olney was back to normal and Georgia Avenue was reopened. AJ & the Pipsqueak were able to wind their way back to where we'd been sitting, and after some discussion re: who was going where when and how I drove them to where AJ had parked, and from there we all headed back to their house.
There was some reviewing of parade photos & videos...
...and the sharing of some exceptionally silly jokes...
...and we all closed out the day agreeing that it had been a pleasant one indeed!
And that, dear reader, is the end of this post. I'm going to try to make the next one or two about more recent events (or I'll be playing catch-up for the rest of my life!), since there have been some interesting goings-on worth posting about.
See y'all soon....
