Mobile, AL - Floats for Mardi Gras - Both

Our intended early start yesterday, July 3rd actually took place a lot later than planned. It was 4:00 pm before we were on the road.

After spending the night in Pensacola last night we were on the road a lot earlier today, July 4th.

As we were going through Mobile we wandered off the interstate to try to locate the recycling place where Bill first discovered license plates – the start of his collection and obsession. Although we didn’t find the place he was looking for we did stumble across a huge industrial area.

One of the bay doors was open and we noticed Mardi Gras floats. Bill pulled up in front so I could get pictures when a man came out to see if he could help us. Bill explained that we were on vacation and were taking pictures of some of the floats which were visible from the parking lot.

The man invited us to come inside and look around and told us we could take all the pictures we wanted. These were the floats from the Mardi Gras celebration earlier this year. The theme was mostly Beatles music; there were floats for Yellow Submarine, Penny Lane, Abbey Road, I am the Walrus and many other popular Beatles songs. There were also floats for Tony the Tiger, Yogi Bear, Uncle Sam and isles and isles of other themed floats.

They were in the process of breaking them down and building new floats for next year. They use the same bed and even some of the same parts. For example, part of the alligator for the Florida Gators float earlier this year will be used on another float for next year that will have an alligator.

The artist or designer was in the shop and showed us several of his sketches for floats for next year and showed us which parts would come from floats they were breaking down. The only other person there was the man who invited us in and gave us the tour, then he let us roam around the warehouse-sized building and take photographs.

What a fun way to start our vacation! I was excited to have a new camera, just out of the box and this was the first time I used it. I was thrilled to have such colorful subjects for my first photos with my new camera.