Parade

Last Saturday we were up an in town early,

for it was the morning of the annual Dragon Con parade.  The day when people of all ages come out to show off their fantasy and science fiction (mostly) costumes before the three day convention.
The parade starts off with bag pipes--why, I do not know, but every time I've seen the start of the parade it has started with bag pipes.  Then you get a little of everything.
Some regular parade spectacles--

And then loads of these wacky, passionate people who put together their own costumes and floats.

Lots of Dr. Who this year

This is a part of a group all decked out as elements in the Periodic Table. This Con IS a nerd fest after all.

Many hobbits and elves--but this is the only Gollum I saw.  Kind of tall. And check those feet slippers!

Got a ton of pictures with the red haired guy on the left.  Funny,  I didn't even notice him when I was standing there!

It's not every day you see full grown men dressed as full out Spartans walking with spears down Peachtree Street.

A lot of characters obviously are not from warm climates, unfortunately.  It was about 90 degrees fahrenheit out there on the pavement.

If you look closely, you can see a little baby foot poking up over the edge of the cockpit.

It was close and uncomfortable really, watching this parade, but it was fun.  The people with some of the best costumes aren't in the parade, as the parade tends to leave those in it hot and sweaty--and I'll bet blistered too from some of that unfamiliar foot wear.  However, I love the wild enthusiasm of these people.  Their willingness to play.

Long Weekend

So--this weekend, instead of staying home cleaning the yard or getting things done, I shrugged off all that and went out and about instead.  Starting in town.

 We decided to lunch at a historic downtown restaurant.  Super Southern Food Deluxe!  Here we have buttered biscuits, black-eyed peas, green beans, turnip greens, mashed potatoes, pot roast, bar-b-que chicken, blackened catfish, and fried catfish.  Not pictured is the peach cobbler, pickled watermelon, and sliced tomatoes.  Whew!

I had to take a picture of the decor.  I must say I was pretty aghast at all of these heads, and the gun racks with rifles was definitely over-the-top.  Notice the couple at the far left.  These people are in costume for Dragon-Con the fantasy and sci-fi convention.  The next couple were Auburn fans, in town for the football game, and next to them in orange are the Clemson fans.  (I really wanted a picture just of the Clemson people sat with the gun rack at their back, but wasn't brave enough to ask for a photo.)

 Out on the streets I was able to snap a few shots of Dragon-Con people, and I saw loads more I didn't photograph at the convention itself where I went to buy a pass for my son.  It reminded me of being in Venice at carnival (but much, much hotter).

 On Saturday night, we went to the baseball game.  These two mustachioed people (one is a woman) may have been at Dragon-Con earlier.  Or maybe not.  Anyway, they seemed flattered to have their picture taken while buying tickets.

 And take a look at those foot-long hot dogs!  (Their dad asked if he needed to sign a waiver when I asked them for a picture :-))

 Our team (the Braves) was behind the whole game, but scored 5 runs in the very last inning, winning when Chipper Jones slammed a home-run out of the park to put us ahead by one point!  Whoa!  I know everyone who walked out early was very sad they did.  And all of us who yelled the entire bottom of the 9th were crazed with excitement.