As if we Americans need any more reason to gather together in drunken debauchery, I just got back from my first experience at Gasparilla. Before actually seeing the festivities, this event was described to me as a pirate mardi gras. I believe it actually lived up to its description. The one I went to was supposedly the "alcohol free" childrens' parade. Ha Ha. Yeah right. I saw more high schoolers passed out in the lawn than anything (no surprise there). The "adult" parade is this weekend I believe and if they plan to take it to the next "adult" level then I am not sure I would be prepared for it anyways. There is some background history to the event, which I am sure you can google if you are truly interested. Mostly it is just a bunch of rowdy drunks who plan on dressing like a pirate, but end up looking like they got dressed in the local Salvation army.....in the dark. To carry the booze, many people steal shopping carts from the local grocery store and then dress them up to look like pirate ships.
There are many parts to the event: the ship parade, the staged attack on tampa bay by the some locally famous pirate ship, the float parade, VIP parties, etc. However, without getting up super early or having a huge cash flow to be a VIP, you really only see the float parade through its 10 mile+ journey. The entire parade rout is barricaded and people are standing on both sides just grabbing beads as they fly out into the crowd. I actually saw a set of beads fly perfectly onto some guys head and around his neck while he was just standing there talking to his friends. Pretty rad. At least it was at the time.
The rest of the weekend my roomate Aaron and I were basically pampered with food by our buddy Chris' parents. Friday night was Super Lasagna night followed by homemade strawberry shortcake. And after Gasparilla, we arrived back to his house for a feast including filet mignon, homemade Au Gratin Potatoes, fresh bread, and for dessert......another strawberry shortcake, cherry cheesecake, and Italian chocolate decadence cake. 5 months of working out undone in one weekend. But a great weekend it was!
Only 5 or so more exams to go before boards and rotations!!! Here we go!
2 comments:
DUDE!!! My kind of party! Next year I am poking my self in the eye and having someone kick me in the shin and I will be in full pirate mode.
Honestly, you just need an eye patch. There were plenty of ladies who were willing to negotiate to get their hooks on one!!
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