As most of you will surely know, Monday was Independence Day here in the US and we had an amazing weekend. 
We kicked off with the Blue Angels Air Show on Pensacola Beach on Saturday, had a rip-roaring party in Orange Beach on Sunday and settled the weekend with a fish fry on Monday and fireworks in Downtown Pensacola that Monday night.
Pensacola Beach is part of the barrier island off the Florida Panhandle, which means that it bears the brunt of the hurricanes when they fly through here. And, since the last hurricane in September the place has been quite in shambles. Hardly any hotels are open and it is largely under re-construction.
Yet, Saturday the Blue Angels flew over Pensacola Beach and we
were invited to watch from my boss' beach house where he hosts an awesome Blue Angels Party each year. They are excellent hosts with all the food and drinks you require and free parking. A chance to drink Margaritas from the Margarita machine that someone sponsored and homemade Bloody Mary’s that no hangover will ever make me drink. I s'pose you must be fond of Tomato cocktail. And, a chance to hob-nob with all the bigheads in Pensacola. My boss being one of them. Attorneys, business owners and politicians. Scary part being that most of them are Republicans. However, I am in the South and that is part of the territory.
For those that are interested in the Blue Angels, click on the following link:
http://www.blueangels.com/history.shtml. Fat Albert is the Aircraft Carrier for the Blue Angels. The show always starts with the oldies from WWII followed by an intermission and then out comes Fat Albert (and he really is big and loud) as the introduction to the Blue Angels. They are truly incredible to watch!
Sunday rolled around and the Resort at which Larry is a Contract Audio/Visual Technician hosted their annual Independence Day BBQ (with – you guessed right! – burgers and hotdogs, etc.).
The hotel has an East, a West Tower, and a lobby area in the middle. In front of each tower, there is a beach deck. They had a band playing on the West Deck Stage and some Professional Country singer. He lives in Tennessee and originates from Gulf Breeze, Florida (next to Pensacola) and drives a big red Dodge bakkie, has painted on blue jeans and the tightest black shirt with the matching hairstyle. Oh, and his name is Woody something.
Larry was the one that did the sound and lighting and the audience loved the show. In order to have sound on the other deck, they used satellite broadcasting. Apparently, it felt as though the band was right there in front of them.
At 21:00, the lights went out. The City of Orange Beach and the owners of the hotel contribute to a fireworks show each year and this year was spectacular. I think they paid $15,000.00 for the 20-30 minutes show we saw. They do the fireworks and play “patriotic” songs along with it such as The Star Spangled Banner and the like.
Say what you like, it was fantastic. The fireworks were right above my head and I kind feared for my safety at times because they were so big and close. I have never experienced anything like it before. The Americans are proud to be American and that is not something that I see in every country. South Africa being my reference point.
I still think they are fat and stupid in certain areas of the country. The South being the ultimate worst. And those “lovely” Alabama girls – oh man. What a site!
Anyway, back to my weekend. Monday we were invited to go to Larry’s Dad’s place (his parents are also divorced) where some of the family were going to come and have a fish fry. I am not exactly very familiar with it but, it is pretty good. We had Dolphin.
Now before everyone freaks out and calls me a savage, it is actually Mahi Mahi. The Tuna version of Dolphin. Or, as they told me: “Don’t worry, it’s not Flipper. And grits-a-la-something with bacon and cheese and salsa and all kinds of good stuff.
For those of you not in the know, grits is like mieliepap and, although I despise mieliepap and grits this was really tasty because it hid the grits flavour under bacon.
Yes, Americans like their grease spoons and no, I have not ballooned into something atrocious.
We kicked off with the Blue Angels Air Show on Pensacola Beach on Saturday, had a rip-roaring party in Orange Beach on Sunday and settled the weekend with a fish fry on Monday and fireworks in Downtown Pensacola that Monday night.
Pensacola Beach is part of the barrier island off the Florida Panhandle, which means that it bears the brunt of the hurricanes when they fly through here. And, since the last hurricane in September the place has been quite in shambles. Hardly any hotels are open and it is largely under re-construction.
Yet, Saturday the Blue Angels flew over Pensacola Beach and we
were invited to watch from my boss' beach house where he hosts an awesome Blue Angels Party each year. They are excellent hosts with all the food and drinks you require and free parking. A chance to drink Margaritas from the Margarita machine that someone sponsored and homemade Bloody Mary’s that no hangover will ever make me drink. I s'pose you must be fond of Tomato cocktail. And, a chance to hob-nob with all the bigheads in Pensacola. My boss being one of them. Attorneys, business owners and politicians. Scary part being that most of them are Republicans. However, I am in the South and that is part of the territory.For those that are interested in the Blue Angels, click on the following link:
http://www.blueangels.com/history.shtml. Fat Albert is the Aircraft Carrier for the Blue Angels. The show always starts with the oldies from WWII followed by an intermission and then out comes Fat Albert (and he really is big and loud) as the introduction to the Blue Angels. They are truly incredible to watch!Sunday rolled around and the Resort at which Larry is a Contract Audio/Visual Technician hosted their annual Independence Day BBQ (with – you guessed right! – burgers and hotdogs, etc.).
The hotel has an East, a West Tower, and a lobby area in the middle. In front of each tower, there is a beach deck. They had a band playing on the West Deck Stage and some Professional Country singer. He lives in Tennessee and originates from Gulf Breeze, Florida (next to Pensacola) and drives a big red Dodge bakkie, has painted on blue jeans and the tightest black shirt with the matching hairstyle. Oh, and his name is Woody something.
Larry was the one that did the sound and lighting and the audience loved the show. In order to have sound on the other deck, they used satellite broadcasting. Apparently, it felt as though the band was right there in front of them.
At 21:00, the lights went out. The City of Orange Beach and the owners of the hotel contribute to a fireworks show each year and this year was spectacular. I think they paid $15,000.00 for the 20-30 minutes show we saw. They do the fireworks and play “patriotic” songs along with it such as The Star Spangled Banner and the like.
Say what you like, it was fantastic. The fireworks were right above my head and I kind feared for my safety at times because they were so big and close. I have never experienced anything like it before. The Americans are proud to be American and that is not something that I see in every country. South Africa being my reference point.I still think they are fat and stupid in certain areas of the country. The South being the ultimate worst. And those “lovely” Alabama girls – oh man. What a site!
Anyway, back to my weekend. Monday we were invited to go to Larry’s Dad’s place (his parents are also divorced) where some of the family were going to come and have a fish fry. I am not exactly very familiar with it but, it is pretty good. We had Dolphin.
Now before everyone freaks out and calls me a savage, it is actually Mahi Mahi. The Tuna version of Dolphin. Or, as they told me: “Don’t worry, it’s not Flipper. And grits-a-la-something with bacon and cheese and salsa and all kinds of good stuff.
For those of you not in the know, grits is like mieliepap and, although I despise mieliepap and grits this was really tasty because it hid the grits flavour under bacon.
Yes, Americans like their grease spoons and no, I have not ballooned into something atrocious.
After all the lovely eats and drinks in the Summer sun, we headed over to Downtown Pensacola. It is the best part of Pensacola as it is their Historical District with all the old buildings and parks. They had their fireworks show launched from barges that created a 300-foot stage on the bay and the city was packed.
I am not lying when I say that I have never even seen something that fantastic. Sunday was a mild version of what the City of Pensacola put on that night. I wish I had taken pictures of the hour-long show that we saw. They must have spent at least $50,000.00 on the show. The Bay was so packed with boats that they had more of a traffic jam leaving than the cars on the road.
My favourite firework was one that shoots up high into the night air and cascades with a million little shooting stars down to earth.
Yet, now it is almost the end of the week and we are coming upon the weekend after only to
be informed that Hurricane Dennis is hurtling directly our way. Oh joy, what fun. People are going crazy! Most of the people have not recovered from the previous hurricane – emotionally and physically. Some are still living in Government trailers waiting to move back into their homes!Gas stations all across town are empty. No gas anywhere. And Larry warned me this morning to drive safely to work as the people were driving like maniacs. Now, for those in SA used to taxis, it’s not so bad. However, here it is different. We don’t get traffic over here.
So, we are going to hang out at Larry’s main office because it is the safest place to be. It has two huge metal warehouses and our cars will be safe there. Our house is safe, but surrounded by trees and that is too scary to hang around and watch.
I will let everyone know what happened and if we even got hit next week when I am back at work. Ivan (the hurricane in September) scared a lot of people and no one takes anymore chances. We have lost too much over here as it is.
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