The night the lights went out in Nassau...

When I was a kid, I remember having power outtages...everybody has at some point, right? Well, whenever we had power outtages, we'd pull out the candles and enjoy some board games or fun games of hide and seek or something like that. Well, last night I got to experience a "Bahamian Style" or I should say "Nassau Style" (because it's not how we do them in Exuma) power outtage.

We were just about to sit down to dinner and it went out. It was nice and breezy and cloudy last night... so it was actually pretty pleasant outside on the front patio (where we usually eat dinner). After dinner it still hadn't come on yet, and down here... you really can't guess at how long it may be out. Of course Joss woke up the second it went off because his AC cut off and his radio, and everything was really quiet. So, what do we do?? We all load up in the truck (even the dogs) and go for a ride in the AC to get some Dairy Queen...or so we thought.

As we turn off of their street onto the main road (Eastern Road for those of you familiar with the area), there are TONS of cars out and about. Now granted, it's a Friday night, but even Andy and Nancy were surprised at the crowd. As we drive toward downtown, we notice more and more areas are out of power. As we continue down Eastern Road, cars are pouring onto it from the subdivisions and housing areas. You would swear it was morning rush hour.

SO, apparently everyone does the ice cream run when the power is out. We get to Dairy Queen and there are AT LEAST 20 cars in the drive-thru (with at least 6 people in a car) and the inside is packed. There's a jitney (local bus) parked out front..not a good sign. So we head for Wendy's (frosty is just as good, right?)--HA--the rest of Nassau was way ahead of us. The traffic is insane at this point and we are still seeing signs of power out everywhere. Every restaurant is PACKED and every drive thru is even worse. We get in line at a McDonald's that is about the shortest line we've seen and they are turning people away because they RAN OUT OF FOOD-- it's like 9pm on a Friday, and they are out of food... we couldn't believe it.

I've seen crowds on this island, but I have never seen anything like this. People were out everywhere and cars were all over the place like it was rush hour in the morning or something. Andy kept forgetting that the dogs were in the back of the truck too :) so all the speed bumps we hit and the corners that he decided to turn down last minute gave them quite the start-- it was pretty funny! We finally managed to find somewhere that wasn't that bad inside, and we got our ice cream :) By time we got back home the power was back on. I don't know why, but I found the whole experience pretty funny. Joss of course didn't know what the heck was going on since he was awake and out and about after he had gone to bed.

I've been trying to go for regular walks more lately to help Emit whenever he's ready :) We went around the neighborhood yesterday and saw the stables and horses down the road. All Joss could say to that was "whhoooaa" and "oooooo". I'll try to get some pics when we go next time. This morning me, Dallas and Joss went to Atlantis again to walk around. You see the shark in the picture above?? That's a hammerhead...they have two in this aquarium-- holy cow!

Everytime we've gone here I've been able to see and do something new each time. This place really is pretty cool. In the pic below the Miss Universe gals just finished their Lazy River race and were hanging out for the awards and photos. They all had their own little personalized innertubes with their country on it as well as these cute little wetsuits with their country and flag on it. It's been pretty cool to be around for all this stuff and see it from a "local" perspective. Nancy got rearended the other day when there was a caravan going through downtown, so that side of things isn't so cool, but the paper is putting all kinds of coverage of their outtings and stuff in it...so that's fun.

Well, all's quiet on the baby front...but that could change any day now. My friend Erika just had her little boy, so I'm next in line :) then you Lizzy! Fun times!!