Gator By The Bay 2008

My family has made a tradition of going to the annual Gator By The Bay festival and after a week of 'May Gray' we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. My mom, sister, cousin, Johanna, Jasmyne, and our friend visiting from Texas loaded up a couple cars and headed down to Gator which was already in full swing when we arrived. We parked at Island Prime and walked along the bay until we got to the park.



We really enjoyed the day, arrived around 1 and stayed and stayed until almost 7pm, enjoying family, the sun, the food, the music and the dancing. We brought some snacks, but we couldn't turn down the crawfish, some catfish, and other southern delights.









There was a band called The Lost Bayou Ramblers who provided the soundtrack at the stage where we'd set up camp and they were really great, and I found myself quite smitten with the singer/violinist. We also ran into some friends there. There's this general feeling at this festival, that even just for a few hours, nothing really matters. People let loose and smiles abound. Some people are really great dancers, some not so much, but nobody really cares as everyone just gets lost in the vibe. Once again, we enjoyed the event and are already looking forward to doing it again next year.


My mom is hot!



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Jasmyne loved the crawfish...










This guy jumped in one of our pictures. "Oh, no," I said, "now you're gonna be on my blog." Then he gave me his card and said he had a website, too, that he blogs, but he makes a living as an artisan cheesemaker. I think I met my dream man. He blogs? And makes cheese? Heaven...
And the one on the right is all the girls together. So much fun.



This is just in case any compnies out there are looking for a spokesmodel. How cute is my girl??

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This Weekend: Gator By The Bay 2008

This weekend we'll be engaging in our Mother's Day weekend tradition of going to Gator By The Bay at the Spanish Landing. That's the strip of park that runs along the bay across from the airport. It's a fun event for families, and if you're even remotely into Zydeco music, it's the best this city offers. There are two stages and delicious southern food vendors in between. In addition to the zydeco and cajun music, there's also lots of swing, blues, and old country.



The website says no coolers, pets, or alcohol of any type, but every year we've been, we've seen people pull in strollers and wagons with blankets, lawn chairs, soft coolers, umbrellas, and other stuff and they seem pretty chill about all that. People set up little areas and pretty much hang out all day listening to the feel good music. There are also dance lessons and there's this school that has their students there getting people without partners out on the dancefloor. That's where I'll be spending my Saturday with my family. Tickets are $20 and available at the gates.

I'm just sad my little sister won't be here until next week because she always made the event even more enjoyable. Last year she even discovered that she loves crawfish after screaming that the eyes were looking at her.


Click the poster above for more information.

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Weekend Recap: Gator By The Bay

Sunday was Mother's Day and a family plan to head to Gator By The Bay, a cajun and zydeco music and food festival held annually near Harbor Island, across from the airport at the Cancer Survivor Memorial Park at Spanish Landing. We went last year and everyone had chairs and coolers and food, so this year, we overplanned and overpacked and took our own stuff. So it was like a fun family picnic with great music to enjoy for the duration.

I think the first band we saw were the San Diego Cajun Playboys, but the bigger deal was that Amanda Shaw was playing with them. There's a movie playing at the Reuben H Fleet Space Center called "Hurricane on the Bayou" and her music is featured in the film.

After, we watched Big Rig Deluxe for a while but decided we could see their mostly Johnny Cash covers anytime, so we wandered to the other end of the festival for more Zydeco music.

It was a beautiful day in San Diego, and I really don't know how anyone can hear zydeco music and not be put in a good mood. The dancefloors were full of people of all ages...from kids to elderly folks dancing with walkers. Everyone has their own style of dancing and its fun to watch the variety of swing styles that people use.

Even more than that, though, is the lack of judgment and self consciousness of the people here. People are all stripes and colors, all ages, all socio-economic levels, and it was hard to find anyone not smiling.

My god-sister Claudia and I decided it was time for some boiled crawdads, and lucky for us, we got some before they sold out. A lot of people were pissed that they sold out two hours before the festival ended, but they sold over 5000 pounds in two days. How could they know to bring more than that?

After, we made our way back to the first stage and watched the final zydeco band of the night. Throughout the day, we must've gone from one end to the other at least 10 times, so we chilled under a tree enjoying the sunsetting. My mom, brother in law and I kidnapped Claudia to the dancefloor which she promptly left when we set her down, but a minute later said "I dare you to make me dance" which was her invite to dance. I carried her to the dancefloor and spun her and twirled her like the big dork that I am. And it didn't matter how we looked, because nobody could take away the fun we were having.

I fully intended to go to the Casbah for The Long and Short of It and The North Atlantic that night, but even with a nap, there was just no getting me outta the house that night. A full weekend of fun and sun and booze and dorkery, I instead spent Sunday night catching up on some much needed sleep, in preparation for another week of good times in San Diego.

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