On the way into SD proper from Shelter Island, we (Ziggy and I) got a primer on Tuesday's celebration when we happened upon one of the organizations set up in a park. The local TV weatherman had gathered them together as a backdrop for his sunday morning show. The group gathered puts on a cajun/zydeco festival in town for mothers day. The Bayou Boys provided music and some local chefs had thrown together some cajun food. We invited ourselves in and enjoyed the moment :).
The Gaslamp district is the older area of downtown, and has an array of clubs, restautants and entertainment. It is NOT oldtown, which is the location of the first San Diego proper, which is located north and is actually a state park. 16 blocks of the gaslamp are cordoned off for Fat Tuesday celebration, which is billed as the largest such festival west of the rockies. On a whim, I reserved a bed in the gaslamp hostel, which would allow me to "party til the cows come home" if I'd like, w/o concern... This experience was ok, no problems or anything, but probably not too high on my list of things to do a second time :). I had to park the van outside of the area and take buses in and out.
The festival itself was a great time ;') Pretty tame if compared to New Orleans, but that was not neccessarily a bad thing. The crowd would have to be measured in the tens of thousands, and there was a highly visable police presence, but they were cordial and enjoying the festivities, just very stringent on where the line was drawn. No heavy handedness, just right there to keep things in check. I had dipped into my bead inventory before hand, just in case...that was not a problem, as the festival area has a lot of multi level buildings with balconies, and there lots of things flying well ahead of the parade :). The parade was lots of fun, and I grew heavy with my new beads collection :). I fell in love a number of times, all for not... Afterwards, the stages (six of them) really started drawing the crowds. I enjoyed Shane Dwight blues band and the Royal Crown Revue (swing) in addition to a number of zydeco bands. I was working hard at lessening my bead collection, when the clock struck twelve and they re-opened the streets. What a stampede to the clubs! It was too bad, as there are a number of really interesting places; irish pubs, blues clubs, old time Rock and Roll venues, etc, all that I had wanted to visit. Things really had become a zoo, and I was in no mood to muscle into the sway of those mobs, so I stayed on the streets for a while. But, folks were starting to really feel the effects of all the alky-hol, and things soon started regressing, so I found myself calling it an evening at a relatively early 1 am :(. All in all, a pretty good time. Maybe next year it will be the real thang...Oh, no pics. Sorry about that.
The Gaslamp district is the older area of downtown, and has an array of clubs, restautants and entertainment. It is NOT oldtown, which is the location of the first San Diego proper, which is located north and is actually a state park. 16 blocks of the gaslamp are cordoned off for Fat Tuesday celebration, which is billed as the largest such festival west of the rockies. On a whim, I reserved a bed in the gaslamp hostel, which would allow me to "party til the cows come home" if I'd like, w/o concern... This experience was ok, no problems or anything, but probably not too high on my list of things to do a second time :). I had to park the van outside of the area and take buses in and out.
The festival itself was a great time ;') Pretty tame if compared to New Orleans, but that was not neccessarily a bad thing. The crowd would have to be measured in the tens of thousands, and there was a highly visable police presence, but they were cordial and enjoying the festivities, just very stringent on where the line was drawn. No heavy handedness, just right there to keep things in check. I had dipped into my bead inventory before hand, just in case...that was not a problem, as the festival area has a lot of multi level buildings with balconies, and there lots of things flying well ahead of the parade :). The parade was lots of fun, and I grew heavy with my new beads collection :). I fell in love a number of times, all for not... Afterwards, the stages (six of them) really started drawing the crowds. I enjoyed Shane Dwight blues band and the Royal Crown Revue (swing) in addition to a number of zydeco bands. I was working hard at lessening my bead collection, when the clock struck twelve and they re-opened the streets. What a stampede to the clubs! It was too bad, as there are a number of really interesting places; irish pubs, blues clubs, old time Rock and Roll venues, etc, all that I had wanted to visit. Things really had become a zoo, and I was in no mood to muscle into the sway of those mobs, so I stayed on the streets for a while. But, folks were starting to really feel the effects of all the alky-hol, and things soon started regressing, so I found myself calling it an evening at a relatively early 1 am :(. All in all, a pretty good time. Maybe next year it will be the real thang...Oh, no pics. Sorry about that.
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