"Save Your Dixie Cups..."

Last Saturday (the 19th) there was this southern re-enactment in downtown Montgomery. It was of the swearing in of Jefferson Davis as president of the Confederacy.

Since we were in the area, and it was the 150th anniversary, we thought it would be neat to go.

And it was neat...

But also a little awkward.

There were some people there that are die-hard southerners. Before the re-enactment there were a bunch of speakers and some of their speeches got pretty heated and passionate.

Brig was grateful he wasn't in his Air Force uniform. That would have been REALLY awkward.

One guy even related our country today to Harry Potter in his speech.... that gave us a good chuckle.

We went with a group of people that are also down here at ASBC (Air and Space Basic Course) with Brigham.

Andy hung out on Brig's chest, and basically slept the entire time, except for when the cannons and guns were firing.

We walked down the street away from the capitol and covered his ears for this part. We thought it was best that we didn't let our child go deaf.

There were LOADS of people there dressed up in time period costumes. It was pretty sweet. There were actually more people involved in the parade and reenactment than actual spectators.

I was grateful that I was wearing shorts and my chacos, and not the dresses. It was quite hot. The medics got called in at one point I believe because of someone getting heat exhaustion.

These gentlemen gave us little confederate flags. Maddy and Andy enjoyed them most I think.

My favorite parts of the parade were the people playing the musical instruments. It made the whole thing so much more exciting and enjoyable.

These were some of my favorite photos I got of people in the parade.

["Jefferson Davis" is the one waving his hand in the horse-drawn carriage.]

The re-enactment took place on the lawn of the capitol building.

While we were standing around listening to the various speeches and such a photographer took a picture of us and was asking us our names and where we were from. He was quite the character. When we said we were from Alaska, he asked if it was "southern" Alaska. And then he asked where we were from in "the states." We told him we were originally from Utah, and he said that we should tell people we were from "southern" Utah.

Then he said my favorite line of the day: "Save your Dixie cups.... the South will rise again!"

And I do believe he was serious when he said this.

Brig also got interviewed while we stood there. The lady actually was talking to me when she asked if she could ask some questions, but I gladly passed that buck right on to Brig. He was fabulous.