We woke up, checked out the amazing view and enjoyed luxuriously long, hot showers before heading out to find our car. This was not an easy task. We thought we were on the fifth floor, but when that didn't work we tried all of the other floors, each labeled with it's own pretty color. Hm, no luck. Did you know that there are three garages attached to Ceaser's? Yup, that's right. Third time is a charm! After that excitement we were on the road. The plan for the morning was the Seaside Heights St. Patricks Day parade.
Apparently the universe decided that since it took us so long to find our car earlier we should spend an especially long time in the car later. We were stuck in very slow moving traffic for a very long time (Kat says 6 miles in 45 minutes... Apparently I blocked that statistic out!). Getting to the peninsula should have brought a sigh of relief, but then there was parking. The lot was free, yay! However, this seemed to give people the license to park anywhere they felt like. Many of the passways between aisles of parked cars were also parked in leaving you no way to get out.
It was a little iffy at one point, we thought we were stuck. Thankfully no one parked a uniform distance apart and so there was one strange break that we were able to pass through (and by able to, I mean I closed my eyes and Kat went for it). We should have learned, but the next aisle was even more exciting. It involved some awkward three point turns, backwards driving and a lot of laughing with the other cars in there with us (one guy even had green dreads!). In the end we parked with a few other cars in a line perpendicular to a single line of cars, figuring they could just pull out the other way.
By this point the parade had already started and so we just followed the loud cheers and crazily dressed green people. The parade was full of bands, cool old cars, scout troops, a few floats, some military men and even the Shriner cars! However, the best part was definitely walking up and down the street and admiring the outfits people had put together. From the very young to the very old and reaching even to the animals, their Irish pride was apparent.
All that excitement and walking worked up an appetite and so we headed up to the boardwalk to look around. It looked a bit like a ghost town with many things shut down and yet the arcades, rides, game booths and food stands were still exciting to walk amongst. One stand we passed had a menu that was nearly all things fried, including oreos, snickers, etc. Yummy. This idea stayed with us and we ended up buying a bag of zeppoles! So. Much. Fun. We had powdered sugar all over us!! I couldn't stop laughing. Sugar, laughter and the beach/ocean nearby... pretty neat. We ended our time by taking a trip down memory lane. My uncle owns a beach house that I spent many fun times in through the years. After that stop we were on our way to Lakewood!
Saturday dinner had Kat being introduced to a large portion of my extended family. She handled it pretty well :) Between 14 of us we had four pizzas (for you non east coast folks, the pies are about 18 inches in diameter which is quite large compared to the typical size in the Midwest) and a number of other odds and ends. It was loud and fun and wonderful to see everyone and catch up a bit. It was also interesting to reflect on the trip with those who already know me :). Later some of us headed over to grandma's for ice cream and more talk and laughter. Kat had a blast seeing our blog through my uncle's eyes. At the end of the night we headed to my aunt's place where we enjoyed a relaxing cup of tea to calm our sugar riddled selves. Soon we were asleep and day 38 came to a close.
Apparently the universe decided that since it took us so long to find our car earlier we should spend an especially long time in the car later. We were stuck in very slow moving traffic for a very long time (Kat says 6 miles in 45 minutes... Apparently I blocked that statistic out!). Getting to the peninsula should have brought a sigh of relief, but then there was parking. The lot was free, yay! However, this seemed to give people the license to park anywhere they felt like. Many of the passways between aisles of parked cars were also parked in leaving you no way to get out. 
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