Carnival! Part 2 (pics)

Friday started off warm and sunny - it was the perfect day for tank tops and flip flops. I slept in to recover from the previous night, but was still able to seize the day. Wandered around Midway for the better half of the afternoon, running into friends and acquaintances while taking pictures of the booths. This year's theme was 'A Different Time And Place', and there were a few outstanding booths:


Carnival on Midway



Everything from Aztec ruins and Atlantis to Chinese noodle house and Star Wars

What makes the booths so impressive is that the construction is solely a student effort. Beginning as early as January, the architecture and civil engineering majors in various organizations draw up blueprints of the structure; the materials are ordered from a hardware warehouse, and unskilled grunt workers (such as myself, when I was in college) were handed power tools and instructions. It was a giant 3D jigsaw puzzle for us. The art and design majors then get working on their part, calling the artistically competent to help with painting props, walls, etc. It's a major production and everybody invests a lot of time and energy into building these Disney World-worthy carnival booths. In the end, the booths stay up for 3 days, only to be torn down with sledgehammers on Sunday.

The weather turn ugly when ominous grey clouds rolled in and raindrops the size of ping pong balls threatened to dampen everyone's moods. By that time, I couldn't be fazed, but walking around in soggy flip flops is never fun. At 6pm, it was the dinner reunion with my adopted family at Harris Grill. We waited forever, but the food and company were worth it.

After dinner, we were on our way to the bars when C called to say she was... 4 months along! I screamed my head off. It was weird when she got married, even weirder when she bought a nice house in upstate NY, and now it's so weird it's incomprehensible. I'm so happy for her. :) I made her promise that I could buy junior all the baby clothes and toys I want.

I changed into less 'sunny daytime' wear and reconvened with the girls in Oakland. We hit a few bars before I left to pick up Alice at the station. Getting lost in Pittsburgh means meandering to the other side of town; I blamed the pouring rain. Alice joined me in the search for my husband, who had also regressed to his college days at his fraternity. We stayed up a little bit before throwing in the towel... old is old, we didn't have the stamina we used to.

Part 3 tomorrow...