What do you do when it's below freezing, winter is well underway, and you're going stir-crazy from being inside all the time? If you live here, you have an outdoor winter carnival with a parade that makes those marching band kids actually appreciate their ancient wool uniforms! And that parade lasts for more than three hours. Oh boy!
So my friends who moved here last year took me to this event along with their tiny toddler, and we adults all gained a new appreciation for the joy of hot air balloons. When they set off those jets, you feel like you're not actually frozen solid. (Just nearly frozen and very, very stiff.)
Their child is hilarious, very solemn in strange situations. Not worried or afraid, merely extremely dispassionately observant. I have no idea if she had a good time, but I sure got a huge kick out of watching numerous parade participants come over (with candy or necklaces or clown costumes and big, fake smiles) and totally fail to get any kind of reaction out of the child at all. It's not like she ignored them; she just looked at them and really didn't see the need to get all jolly or anything. It was still funny after two and a half hours and a couple dozen attempts. I am so easily amused.
We actually left long before it was over because I guess we all just reached that point where we agreed, "This is ridiculous. It's a parade that will never end, and we are built for other climes."
I think we still had to wait until the next hot air balloon float came by to thaw us enough to begin walking.
What do you do when winter makes you get cabin fever?
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All those poor clowns...! The horses had her smiling from ear to ear with no effort at all, though.
ReplyDeleteThat was even funnier. :) Their mere effortless existence made her happier than all the efforts of humans . . .
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