Last year the parades were canceled and we had to find other ways to celebrate Mardi Gras. (Mardi Gras during Covid) This year, there is a full schedule of parades. In years past, we have enjoyed small to large parades from Fort Morgan to Mobile.
The Carnival season begins with King's Day (Feast of the Epiphany) on January 6th. Here the first parade was January 29th. Click the link above to see the volume of parades that escalate until Fat Tuesday on March 1st this year.
Normally we would have gone to one of the early parades on Dauphine Island, but the weather wasn't conducive to the Ferry ride over. So Friday, February 19th was our first parades of the season. Almost a month after the first parade here.
We opted to join the Snowbirds wintering at The Beach Club. The Resort has set up the most convenient means to enjoy a day of parades in Mobile. A charter bus picks you up at noon on the property and takes you to The Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center. After crossing the bay bridge, you see hundreds of RVs camped out under the overpasses. Then you begin to see thousands of cars parked. We drive past and pull in front of the Science Center where a reserved parking spot awaits us. We step off the bus, walk 30 yards and are standing on the parade route. About 45 minutes later the fun begins.
We are actually watching 3 parades back to back. Each put on by a different Krewe.
It's not just beads. The Krewes give out "Throws." (Learn the lingo) Mainly by throwing things from the floats, but also by handing objects typically to small children as they walk or ride electric scooters in the parade. This year we came back with beads, Doubloons with Krewe name, nerf balls, giant dice, Moon Pies, Ramen Noodles, Frisbees, small stuffed animals Koozies, cups with the name of the Krewe, things that glow and a whole lot more. This is even after handing things to families with small children. (We are hoping our daughter will take some for her students.) If not, there are many uses for beads including recycling. I already started decorating the building lobby.
After the afternoon parades are complete, its off to the Science Center. Our ticket includes admission to the Science Center, its IMAX theaters and a catered dinner. We enjoyed all it had to offer and headed back outside a little after sunset.
Night parades are my favorite, as the colors of the floats stand out. Some of my favorite night parades are those on the Two Fridays before Fat Tuesday in Fairhope AL. Those floats are elaborate and brightly illuminated.
So by now, you have decided you can't wait to go to the next parade. Remember these three things:
1) Find a spot behind lots of small children as the Krewes love to throw to them and it gives you someone to unload much of the stuff you catch. Not to mention how valuable their smiles are.
2) Make eye contact with those throwing. Maybe bring a sign or stand out. I wore my red Georgia Bulldawgs hat and had several fast balls straight at my head. One guy was wearing a shirt with a large letter A and an image of an Elephant.
3) Don't take your eye off the throws, the clumps of beads and stacks of cups are intended to separate in flight. If they don't, they can hurt.
Check out the two videos below, so you can experience the crowd's excitement as Throws come their way. The other video is of The Magic City Dance Krewe "a performance and parading krewe inspired by a love of the funk and groove of 1970's and 1980's disco."
three of us in the arena with our required masks on
about to begin
This was the fourth national championship that Cierra and I have attended (started in 2017). We were both looking forward to attending in Nashville from the first time it was announced that it would be the host for 2022. This year we added my cousin Kathy to the mix and we all enjoyed ourselves. Between omnicron, flight cancellations and winter storms there were questions if we would all get there or not. Happy to report we all saw all of the events of our championship weekend tickets. Well, that wasn't all good - Cierra was supposed to miss the skating spectacular but her return flight was cancelled so she flew back on Monday and missed part of a workday. Going I had a delayed flight and ended up with a flight attendant crew from 3 different cities, but hey I made it!
Our Championship weekend ticket package started with the ladies finals on Friday evening. Had a couple of hickups for the finals - 2 ladies came down with omnicron and instead of walking to the event we had to get an uber. Walking a mile (ish) on icy and snowy sidewalks did not sound good to any of us. However, the skating was good and a favorite of ours won the event after skating beautifully.
Isabeau Levito who came in 3rd as she came out for warm up
Mariah Bell in a spin
Mariah Bell receiving a standing ovation at end of skate
The US Figure Skating Association has changed/strengthened the rules to qualify to go to Nationals resulting in fewer contestants. It was really noticed with the pairs and dance teams. Historically there were so many that most of Saturday afternoon would be the lower ranked teams skating. This year there were about half the teams so only the really good ones and they did not start till the afternoon. Sooo. Brunch on Saturday was the plan. We went to a restaurant not too far from the arena where the skating was held. Kathy and Cierra enjoyed lattes and nice breakfast dishes while I had iced tea with my meal. The restaurant had a French spin on southern food and decor. After our meal we had a little time to kill so we walked over to Broadway where all the action is in the evenings - bars, honky tonks. We got a laugh at how some people were dressed and saw a couple of cute things in store windows then it was time for our skating marathon to begin!
On to pairs. US is not noted for having great pairs teams, but there are 2 really good teams. Unfortunately, one half of one of the teams came down with covid. Guess it would be good to note here that the athletes and coaches were all tested daily thus some competitors dropped out in the middle of competing. Anyway, the team (Cain-Gribble and LeDouc) that did compete looked good and I for one am hoping they win a medal in Beijing. Photos of Cain-Gribble an LeDouc are below.
More pairs skating photos. The bottom photo gives you a good feel for how close to the ice we were.
After the pairs competition ended, it was time for the second round of the dance team competition. Here, the US has several very good teams and we saw some good skating. In my opinion, dance can be a hard discipline to recognize the little details that can separate top teams. I have my favorite teams here and they did well.
Kaitlyn Hawayek and Jean Luc Baker
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue
End of their dance - their final US Championships
Caroline Green and Michael Parsons expect to see more of them in a year
Madison Chock and Evan Bates - they won
Due to Covid, the contestants had to put their medals on their partners
Now we had some time on our hands since it was a couple of hours or so till the final competition of the day - mens short program. One of our uber drivers had pointed out the old train station and said it had a neat old clock and stained-glass windows. Also said it was now a Marriot Hotel (The Union Station Nashville Yards Autograph Collection) since the snow was now quickly disappearing thanks to rain and warm temperatures, we headed to it to explore.
Outside of the hotel
Grand Lobby per website - they were setting up for a wedding
the arena is in the background
We wandered into Assembly Food Hall a couple of times because it was close to the arena and it gave us choices. Including during this break. We ate things like falafel, vegetarian tacos, pork buns, ice cream and had a nice meal at 60 vines. 60 Vines was a free-standing restaurant up on the top floor. Pictures below are from there.
My dessert - an olive oil cake
Cierra's dessert
The skating for the day continued with the men's short program. If you follow skating at all, you know that it was a phenomenal competition. I think every man there brought his best game to the arena. It was a great evening to be there in person, because we got to see a lot more men than you saw on TV. When you are giving the men with lower rankings standing ovations for their performance and not just the top ones - you know everyone has brought their "A" game and we were in for a treat! Unfortunately, I can't tell my pictures from the short and the long programs. So, the pictures are mixed below. Oh couple of notes. How good were the short programs you ask? Well, a man I don't know and lowly ranked almost pulled off a quadruple axel. No one in the world has successfully completed one in competition. Also a note, the young man below- you have probably never heard of him before this competition. Well Cierra predicted he could be a dark horse - said he has done well in Junior Competitions and has skated some at her rink and he is the real deal. She was right he came in second his name is Ilia Malinin (my 2 Russian knowledge folks debated correct way to say his last name) and still in high school.
jumping Ilia
More of Ilia
Jimmy Ma who skated well to his relief
this and next are of Jason Brown
Vincent Zhou
another of Jason Brown
Nathan Chen mid jump - long program
The week end ended with the skating spectacular which is so much more than you see on TV. Always a local group of some type and then a variety of top and fan favorite skaters. This year, they also announced the Olympic team and gave them each a guitar. You get to see a different side of the skaters. Below are some pictures from the event.
These next pictures are from Hawayek and Baker's performance - a fun farce on swan lake. I think both of them are bit of comedians.
