St. Patrick's Day the Alexandria Way

For years I have wanted to go to the Alexandria City St. Patrick’s Day parade. But since it is at the beginning of March I always miss it. Each year I forget that it is early and look up the information the week of St. Patrick's Day only to realize I missed it. This year I happened to see an add and actually went. I can tell you I will never miss it again. We started off by walking threw the antique car show. There were classic cars and old cars, but my favorite was the DeLorean. Back to the future we go, didn't know they were made in Ireland till I saw the sign though.

We took Angel down to the dog show. There were so many dogs there! Angel was having so much fun. I entered Angel in the dog show under the category of all dogs rescued from any shelter. She didn't get the title, but is a winner anyway. The categories they had were hilarious: Best spots, best tail wag, most unique tail. We enjoyed watching them all and Angel enjoyed all her new friends.

The final part of the day was the parade. We sat down right next to the reviewing stands so that we would be sure to have a great view. There were military bands and honor guards at the start. Angel liked the first part and was even slightly excited to see each unit, that was until the fife and drums came.

The drums are the key word there. I did not think in advance about how afraid Angel is of thunder and thus would logically be afraid of drums. This became quite clear when she tried to jump over my head to get away from them. I had to hold on to her tightly to make sure she did not run away. The poor girl was shaking so bad people were asking if she was cold. I ended up leaving P.A. and taking her half a block out and watching the parade from there. Still, I enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the Shriners and their cars as well as all the bagpipe and drum units. Though I am still not sure where the Storm troopers come in??

I can't wait 'till next year!