TwoGether

Saturday 2/18/12.                 The day started off with boatkeeping chores, then a short nap.  Now we are ready for our big evening with Casey and Barb.  We arrived at their house at 4:00P and came back and spent some time visiting aboard the boat. 

Then we walked to the Haborside Event Center for our VIP evening.  Whoa…there seems to be a problem.  Someone lost the tickets.  Not Casey…not Barb… but the people that sold the tickets for the event.  The lady at the ‘will call’ made several attempts to find out where the glitch was. She was kind enough to let us go in.  Later she informed Barb that they found the tickets back at the office.  All is right with the world.

The dinner was a buffet of Italian dishes including salad, lasagna and ziti, mixed vegies in sauce and lots of deserts to choose from. Seating was in the perimeter hallway right next to the parade route.  After supper we went out on the porch facing Edward Drive and waited in anticipation for the parade to pass by.  The Grand Parade is the largest after dark parade in the country.  Every float is lit up to celebrate the invention of the light bulb.   Suddenly there were fireworks just west of the building and they put on quite a show. 

North Fort Myers Senior High School (My alma mater) was the Honor Band and led the parade.  That was kind of special for me.  When I moved here there were only two high schools in the county.  Then NFM made the third. It added one grade each year with the first class graduating in 1965.  Lee County is now the 40^th largest school district in the nation with 48 elementary; 21 middle; 13 high; 18 specialty centers; and 26 charter schools. There were marching bands from every high school and floats from many of the others.

There are quite a few collectors of military equipment in the area and they had a large showing of WWII, and later, jeeps and trucks with machine guns that filled the night with rata-tat-tat as they drove by. 

One thing I found heartwarming was how the crowd stood each time the Stars and Stripes passed by and saw many put their hands over their hearts.  There were loud cheers for each member of our armed forces and any of the first responders.  I believe they could feel how much their service means to us.  Seeing this spontaneous reaction and knowing that there were spectators from every state in the Union was quite a thrill.

 

The last entry in the parade was from Edison High School, Berlin Heights & Milan, Ohio.  They represented the hometown of Thomas Edison.  They drew cheer after cheer from the crowd as they continued to play their hearts out after a two hour march.  They put on the best performance of any band in the parade.

After the parade we stopped at Perkins for a late night snack. Then we dropped Casey and Barb off at home and returned to the boat still talking about our favorite parts of the parade.

We want to thank Casey and Barbra for hosting this great evening for us. 

We will never forget it.  

Thank You.

"Be courageous! Whatever setbacks America has encountered, it has always emerged as a stronger and more prosperous nation...."
"Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith and go forward"

Thomas Alva Edison