Alexandria Boat Parade

Kraig and I had an exciting day today. It started out with us taking Baxter to Petco for his first picture with Santa. Yes, I took my cat to get his picture with Santa! Kraig was against it, but decided to go once I promised him that if he went I would not take Baxter to see the Easter Bunny or to see Santa ever again. Baxter was a little scared at first, but then he handled it like a star. I wonder what he asked Santa to bring him...
Oh.. did I mention that the weather was really nasty out- sleet I think and very cold. Thank goodness for heated seats! That brings me to the next part of our day.
This very well may be my second worst idea of something to do while on assignment (mostly due to the weather). Anyways, we rode the Metro to Old Town Alexandria and boarded the trolley for the waterfront. We went there to go and watch the holiday lighted boat parade. Did I mention how cold it was?
We actually got there a lot earlier than the boats so we went to Starbucks for some hot chocolates.

The boat parade wasn't too bad. There were many types of boats decorated for Christmas and many of them were carrying drunken but festive passengers! There was a Santa that stripped and did "the worm." He definitley had the most spirit! A couple of the boats were decorated with Santa dolphins and one had a Snoopy theme- but nothing too fantastic.
After the boat parade we went to eat at Bilbo Baggins Restaurant. Our food was really, really good but not as "hobbit-y" as we had hoped for. The restaurant was nice and cozy. I tried gnocchi for the first time and really liked it. I need to learn how to make it. Despite the weather, we really enjoyed ourselves!
The next day, we had breakfast at IHOP before Kraig headed back to TN. He seems to like it there, even though his phone gets almost no service. He has both internet and cable in his renovated schoolhouse/trailer park apartment- but no stove (isn't that weird)?. I can't wait to see it since he speaks so fondly of it!!!