Wide Awake in the Wee Hours

I was feeling a bit yucky last night and had a cup of tea. And now I can't sleep. So I figured I'd blog a bit.

Thunder was great. There are wonderful pictures and video on The C-J's web site if you'd like to check them out. I had a really great time. I really do not get out often enough. I had forgotten how many different types of humanity there are out there!

There were three groups that provided us with much entertainment throughout the day.

In front of us and to the left were the "young lovers". And when I say young, I mean young. The couple looked no more than 16, but they could actually have been older than that. They were sitting with two other older couples. The women could have been the girl's mother and aunt, or they could have been older sisters. Whoever they were they didn't seem to mind the public displays of affection from the young girl and boy that at times bordered on an R-rating. At one point I whispered to Thomas, "Do you think we should start hugging and kissing too?" And he referenced a quote from the movie "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?" and said, "What, and look like a bunch of Johnny-come-latelies?" I asked him how long he'd been waiting to interject that one into a conversation!

Directly in front of us was the "exhibitionist" and her clan. This girl also must have been in her late teens. She was heavyset and was wearing a tank top. She kept moving around a lot, and she would either be facing us and bending over, giving us a full view of her generous endowment, or she was lying on their blanket with her arms up over her head, and, as she was lying on a slope, we'd get an eyeful that way as well. (You could purposefully look away, but then you'd forget yourself and before you'd know it and without intention, there you'd be with a couple of breasts right in front of you.) It wasn't an attractive site. In her clan were a couple who seriously looked 13 but were probably older and just small for their age. They were almost as bad as the "young lovers", and again there was no adult supervision or intervention.

In front of us and to our right was "happy hour guy" and his family. The woman and the two kids were normal-acting, but the man had obviously had a lot to drink before he got there, and he continued to drink from a whiskey bottle that he tried to keep hidden for most of the evening. At least he was a happy drunk. He was very loud and very rambunctious, though, and was an embarrassment to his wife. We marveled at how well he stood and moved around, because he was obviously plastered. At one time as he was standing there on the slope Thomas said he kept expecting him to fall over and just go rolling on down the embankment and into the river. I said, "No, if he were on level ground he probably would, but since he's already standing on a slope, I guess it kind of balances him out."

Everyone else in our immediate vicinity were normal, classy, friendly people. When I went walking around with Eler Beth to the different vendors or looking for friends, we ran into some more interesting people, though. I live such a sheltered life! I indulged myself too. I had a burger and a plate of ribbon fries with cheese and sour cream. And then later I had a funnel cake with chocolate. It's okay though, because we had to walk about six blocks or so from where we parked to the site and back again afterward.

Thomas always enjoys the air show during the afternoon, and I enjoyed seeing it with him. At one point in the show a military helicopter (CH-47 Chinook) always hovers closely over the river and sends spray up on the banks. There are people who go down close to the river just to experience this. Why, I don't know. Even where we were sitting we could feel a few sprinkles when he did this. When that happened a little boy near us said, "The river's spitting at me!" That was so cute. The air show was good, but the fireworks was one of the best shows they've had in years!

So all in all, I had a really nice day. It was sunny and mild, although the later afternoon and evening brought a chilly wind. I think that's why I was feeling yucky last night -- stuffy-headed, scratchy throat -- because the wind was blowing directly in our faces. Traffic wasn't too bad and we got home at about 11:40. Yes, all in all, a very nice day!