So Mom And I went to the Mardi Gras atmosphere and crowd. We parked at the beach and bussed to the festival. Mom grumbling all the way. She doesn't like buses. Being seniors we only had to pay $.60 each for the ride each way.
A one block walk took us to the Admissions which was $2.00 each. Not bad since the money went to pay off mortgages of property the Village of Cortez bought as a Fish Preserve.
Gee, I hate that each photo will be in reverse order of my story. Oh, well, three wells make a river as my dear Mother used to say.
We passed the pirate that threw me the booty, which will be the actual post following this one as I wrote it before, which makes this whole thing even more bazaar. So anyway here is where I purchased a ticket to win a treasure box. I will hear this afternoon if I won, and its almost 3pm and I haven't heard so probably didn't win.
They had every seafood imaginable. From smoked mullet to fried crab and gumbo, boiled shrimp, fancy fish dishes with sauces galore. You had to buy tickets to get the food, of course they also had the usual fair food, fried twinkies, funnel cakes and kettle corn.
It was so crowded it was like Mardi Gras on carnival day. You aimed in the direction you wanted to go and just waited while the crowd took you there. Or maybe took you somewhere else but you got to see other stuff that way. There was lots to see for such a small village. The same lady with triangle swimsuits was there and another raffle which Mom and I each bought a ticket for was for a 19' boat with a cabin which turned out to be a sail boat and I also find out if I get to park it in my front yard today.
The artist that I liked best had copper wire and hoops made into mermaids and assorted sea creatures that had their main body parts filled with colorful glass globs soldered together. and included crabs, fish, octopus, sea shells, et.al.
The wardens that mom knows from DeSoto Park were there too and had many aquariums with fish and crabs and posters on the wall with drawings of the occupants and you were supposed to find Waldo so to speak and locate each of the drawing animals. Fun for the kids.
We were getting hungry and had passed the place to get tickets and wanted to see all they had before we were forced to make such a demanding choice. We found ourselves at the end of the food line with no tickets and wanted to turn back but somehow the crowd wanted to turn down a side street so see some more crafts. So we turned down the side street to see some more crafts. Of course, there were pet booths and they did have adorable pet clothes and leashes and hats. There were photo booths with fantastic shots of the island, beaches, homes, birds, and colorful beach chairs lined up in a colorful array. The most common booth seemed to be painted wood carvings of fish or pelicans or egrets and sometimes just directional type signs saying "Life is a Beach" or "Another Day in Paradise". Some had specific places named like Anna Maria Island or Beer Can Beach or Cortez of course. Very colorful and many were sold as we saw them carried in the crowd, whacking others as they passed
Finally we came to a quieter area and at a boat repair shop a guy was cooking hot dogs on a grill. They had a sign that said Hot Dog and Chips 2 tickets or $2. Bottled water 1 ticket or $1.00 and Mom and I saw it at the same time. We had just passed by the best smelling seafood in town, not to mention all the fixins' they had to go with it but we still didn't have tickets and all the stuff on the main drag was tickets only. And the tickets were at the beginning of the street with that roiling crowd. No discussion was needed we walked toward the hot dog guy and asked to be sure, "We can pay cash?" Yep. So Hot Dogs it was. Inside they had Diet Pepsi for $2.00 and we were in heaven. We even found a vacant spot at one of the two picnic tables pulled up in the shop's driveway. It was 2pm and I had eaten Yogurt for breakfast, boy, was I ready for that hot dog. As it turned out the hot dog and Chips were only 270 calories. Who knows what I would have eaten and not been able to figure out the calories later if we had just bought tickets at the begining of our entrance.
So it was a bus ride back, a fellow gave Mom his seat, and I was hanging on the rail while Dale Ernhart was driving the bus back to the beach. It sprinkled on us a bit off and on but not enough to get wet. I sure was nap time when I got home and Susie was ready for a nap too.
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