Parade of Lights 2005
The first Saturday of every December the marina where I slip my boat has the 'Parade of Lights.'
House Boat
Boaters from our marina and other marinas go all out decorating their boats with incredible displays of holiday spirit. There are usually at least 40 boats in the parade which leaves the marina, goes out onto the lake, and motors by Boulder Beach. By 6 PM Boulder Beach fills up with holiday revelers around bonfires to watch the boats go slowly past.
Here are some pictures taken at the marina before the really big boats take off to start the parade. As you can see, almost every inch of these boats is covered with sparkling lights. And, they always have music playing too. It's quite festive!!
Boat with Christmas Story Movie Playing
Woot!!
House Boat
Small Boat
House Boat
House Boat
Boat
60 Ft. House Boat
The following boat has a BAND playing on the patio. They rocked!!!
75 Ft. House Boat
Luna LOVES being around all the people and excitement. While this picture doesn't show anybody else, let me just say it's hard to walk around because there are so many people. And dogs. And kids.
Luna & I
After playing on the docks with the BIG boats, we headed out in Sheri's boat to watch the parade out on the water. There were nine of us on her sail boat having tooooooo much fun!!
Tracy, Sheri & Me
After a few hours of chilled floating, with admiration for all the efforts of many of our fellow boaters, we motored back to the dock. Earlier that day, I had moved my boat over to sit next to Sheri's where I had a huge crock pot of Turkey Barley Soup ready for the group. I was amazed to get everybody below on my boat. We were all touching knees all the way around! My little heater and the wine really made things toasty within a few minutes!
Friends On My Boat
More Friends On the Other side Of My Boat
The following morning, Sunday, there were some very difficult moments trying to get my boat off the dock in 30-40 mph winds. I crashed into John's boat, as he was trying to pull my bow off of the dock. My bow cracked the rub-rail of his boat. I felt horrible and have offered to pay and help him fix it. It's a crack about the size of a silver dollar.
Fortunately, it isn't the hull, only the rub-rail. But, I felt terrible nevertheless. His is a brand new boat!! John was incredibly gracious and didn't even appear mad. I have never seen somebody get smacked and act with such class and grace. What a fabulous human. We gave up, tied up all our boats again and went to the restaurant for breakfast!
By the end of Sunday evening, the winds had finally died down. Luna and I returned to our slip safe and sound. It all turned out well. Nobody got hurt, some plastic was cracked, and some wine and soup was had by all.
Luna Says, "We HAD Fun."
The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do. – John Holt
House Boat
Boaters from our marina and other marinas go all out decorating their boats with incredible displays of holiday spirit. There are usually at least 40 boats in the parade which leaves the marina, goes out onto the lake, and motors by Boulder Beach. By 6 PM Boulder Beach fills up with holiday revelers around bonfires to watch the boats go slowly past.
Here are some pictures taken at the marina before the really big boats take off to start the parade. As you can see, almost every inch of these boats is covered with sparkling lights. And, they always have music playing too. It's quite festive!!
Boat with Christmas Story Movie Playing
Woot!!
House Boat
Small Boat
House Boat
House Boat
Boat
60 Ft. House Boat
The following boat has a BAND playing on the patio. They rocked!!!
75 Ft. House Boat
Luna LOVES being around all the people and excitement. While this picture doesn't show anybody else, let me just say it's hard to walk around because there are so many people. And dogs. And kids.
Luna & I
After playing on the docks with the BIG boats, we headed out in Sheri's boat to watch the parade out on the water. There were nine of us on her sail boat having tooooooo much fun!!
Tracy, Sheri & Me
After a few hours of chilled floating, with admiration for all the efforts of many of our fellow boaters, we motored back to the dock. Earlier that day, I had moved my boat over to sit next to Sheri's where I had a huge crock pot of Turkey Barley Soup ready for the group. I was amazed to get everybody below on my boat. We were all touching knees all the way around! My little heater and the wine really made things toasty within a few minutes!
Friends On My Boat
More Friends On the Other side Of My Boat
The following morning, Sunday, there were some very difficult moments trying to get my boat off the dock in 30-40 mph winds. I crashed into John's boat, as he was trying to pull my bow off of the dock. My bow cracked the rub-rail of his boat. I felt horrible and have offered to pay and help him fix it. It's a crack about the size of a silver dollar.
Fortunately, it isn't the hull, only the rub-rail. But, I felt terrible nevertheless. His is a brand new boat!! John was incredibly gracious and didn't even appear mad. I have never seen somebody get smacked and act with such class and grace. What a fabulous human. We gave up, tied up all our boats again and went to the restaurant for breakfast!
By the end of Sunday evening, the winds had finally died down. Luna and I returned to our slip safe and sound. It all turned out well. Nobody got hurt, some plastic was cracked, and some wine and soup was had by all.
Luna Says, "We HAD Fun."
posted by Soulknitting at
3:29 PM
6 Comments:
Nice pics... Luna looks like a very happy doggie!
Oh Kim! You and Luna and everyone looked like you had a blast! (except for the running into the other boat.. yikes!)
Some of those people really deck those boats out don't they? They look awesome! Must have taken quite a while to decorate!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for the great pix! I especially loved the carousel horses.
Several years ago we were camping near Gulf Shores/Foley where they had a boat parade and we missed it so now I'll be sure to attend the festivities if we end up in the same area in December again.
It sounds like you had a fab weekend with some great friends and you all looked comfy-cozy below. Luna's coat rocks!
What a fun weekend! My parent's boat club in Florida does that at Christmas, too, and it is such fun! The kids miss it.
Luna is looking quite stylish!
Looks and sounds like much fun for all. What a gracious man, not to get upset about an accident!
I do like the light decorations this season... I think we might actually get some lights up this year!
Huggss and keep warm!
Bummer about the boat bumper!
Hey what a faboo parade of lights! They do that out here in Marina Del Rey every year. I've yet to go, but it is always on my list of holiday to do's.
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