The Glory of Autumn

On Saturday, my family and I went to Oakland, Maryland for the town's annual Autumn Glory Festival.  My dad apparently attended the festival once when he was a small child, and remembered really enjoying it, so we decided to go back this year.
The day was absolutely beautiful. The sky was blue, it was about 60 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside, and the leaves on the trees were turning red and orange and yellow. It takes about three hours to get to Oakland, and I thought that I would be watching Downton Abbey during the car ride, but instead, I decided to look out at the beautiful view of the woods that were bright with autumn colors and listen to music. Though I was very irritated because my iTunes on my iPod was broken and I couldn't listen to the music that I wanted to listen to, so half the time I listened to my new purchases, Fireflies of Montreal and Permafrost by Laurena Segura.
We got to Oakland at around noon, and ate lunch at a pizza place that I had apparently eaten at before, but don't remember. The pizza was square and good though.
At one, it was time for the parade!!! I don't really have any memories of going to parades as a child, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It started out with a person, who I think had been crowned Miss Maryland or something, and then proceeded to a marching band. Then there was the army of people with bouncy balls. They were all dressed in a green t-shirt and black pants, and were dancing along to a song that I can't remember the name of. There were about 150 people or so, and they would take the bouncy ball, which, I should note, was probably a yoga ball or something, but I don't know. They would dance with it, and sit on it and bounce up the hill with it, and it was very odd, and a bit unnerving.
The best part of the parade, by far, were the SHRINERS!!!! The Shriners are an organization that help children in need of hospital care. I can't take people wearing fezzes seriously anyway, but after this...by golly, it was so much fun!! There were some Shriners in nice, big cars, waving to the public, but then...then, all of the fun happened. A group of Shriners-there must have been at least twenty- came around the corner in little yellow go-carts, and sped around making figure-eights in the street. They must have practiced a lot, because it was truly really really cool. It was awesome. That was a demonstration, that even 70-year old men (wearing fezzes) can still act like children, and, as my dad pointed out, do it legally.
We also spotted a relative of my dad's in the parade (my great-grandfather lived in Oakland, so there's some family and friends around). Please don't ask me to tell you his relation to me, but I know that his name was Jeff, and he's a nice person.
After the parade, my mother and I went around the antique shops in Oakland. My favorite part of the antique shops that we went in were the hats-I love hats, especially ones from the 1930's.
When we started out car ride home, it was about 7 at night. It was peaceful, and you could see the stars in the sky. We went home after a really nice day in Oakland. This time, I did choose to watch Downton Abbey, but was still thinking about how nice the day had been-the weather, the parade, the Shriners, and of course, the colors and the glory of autumn.