saturday night

Today was exhausting but fun. The parking arrangements were different from what I'm used to. The purpose of the event was to bring more foot traffic to the local businesses, so they had us spread out all over the downtown area. Also they asked us to stay with our cars so we could talk with spectators. Which was nice, I had some great conversations. But I also missed sitting and talking with the other drivers, which is what happens when we're all parked together.

They had little tip jars next to each car, with a sign asking spectators to "vote" for their favorite car by putting a dollar in the jar. All the donations will be given to the local hospice, and the car that raises the most money wins the "people's choice" award and a cash prize.

Unfortunately the donations depended a lot on where your car was parked. I'm not saying that I would have won in a different location; there were some amazing cars at this event. I think the prize will go to the Aerocar, Fat Rat or Hamburger Harley, and all of them deserve it. But still, my street got about half the foot traffic of the main street, and I think that did make a difference. On the other hand, some of the cars were on remote streets that hardly got any traffic at all! At least I got to meet some folks and raised a little money for the hospice.

I think I mentioned already that they gave us vouchers for dinner. We checked out the menus of a couple of places, and ended up eating at a seafood restaurant called Pisces Rising. It was insanely noisy, not the environment I would choose for a nice dinner out. And the waiter was kind of an overly friendly surfer dude. But the food was fantastic. We started with these wonderful little spicy crab cakes. Then I had grouper in almondine sauce, and Georg had whole snapper. He said it was well worth the bones, and I'm inclined to agree after trying a bite. We splurged and got dessert: key lime pie for me, and orange cake for him. Both fantastic. The best part of a very good meal, I think.

After dinner was Hamburger Harry's 50th birthday party, at a local bar. We were both pretty tired (me more than Georg I think) so we left after an hour, at about 10:30. I'm not sorry we went, but I would have been if we had stayed any longer. It was fun though. Carolyn (Stink Bug) brought sparklers, glow stick necklaces, and a cake shaped like a hamburger. Besides Carolyn, Bonnie (Women Who Rock)and Robert (Fat Rat) were there, also Becky (Wheels of Imagination), Felicia (Catgoyle Cavy) and her boyfriend and friend, Susie and her husband, and of course Hamburger Harry and his son Karl.

Now we're watching Iron Chef while I process photos. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. We have to check out of the hotel room before the day's events get started. Which means we won't have a way to shower and change before driving to Savannah, which we probably won't get to until around 9 pm. At least the art car events should be easier tomorrow.