Festival

A few minute later the car pulled up in front of the entrance to the Plymouth Harbor Festival. Afton climbed out followed by Gabriel then Megan. Megan looked around spotting their group about fifty feet away near left side ticket booth. The trio walked over to the large group. Megan hugged her mother, Nicole, then Tyler after knocking him sideways with her shoulder. He laughed at her antics.

Afton greeted Chloe and she introduced him to her children as Afton, just Afton. He was growing concerned when she gave him a lop-sided grin that told him she was giving him a hard time good-naturedly. Megan introduced Gabriel to Nicole and Tyler and Tyler referred to him as the Butcher and decided to keep doing it after he saw the look of horror on his brothers-in-law's face. They greeted Angelina, Caden, and Elijah.

Afton went to the ticket booth and got wristbands for everyone. Chloe helped them all put theirs on and told Tyler not to take advantage of the fact that he had been given an adult band and could get alcohol. Tyler grinned but Megan smacked him in the head and asked if he would like to return to the kid table.

Ready for the evening the group went in heading for the food concession area. It took a little time to locate the area amidst the hundreds of booths and events taking place. The group stopped several times when someone would see something they wanted to check out or when they got caught up in live performances that were taking place in the park, beach, or parking lot.

The group finally reached food row and took in the brightly decorated food trucks trying to decide what to eat. Megan decided to split a large order of curly fries that came out like a loaf of bread. She also ordered Fish tacos and a sweet port empanada from a taco vendor. She felt like this was a lot of food but decided to feed the extra to her brother if she couldn't eat it all. The guys all order burgers with onion rings or fries except Elijah who ordered a cheese steak sandwich. Angelina had fish tacos as well. Chloe and Nicole had teriyaki chicken and rice bowls.

Megan wished they could go to a restaurant where they could eat whatever they wanted any night. They would probably never eat at home if eating out was so convenient. The only downside was the wait time for their food at the busy festival. The woman had gone in search of drinks while the men waited for their food orders. Eventually they managed to get a bar to make a gallon of margaritas and give them plastic cups for the whole crew. They also bought everyone a bottle of water.

Rejoining the men who now had all their food they found a grassy spot below the boardwalk beside the sand beach to sit and eat their meal and visit. Megan doled out cups full of margarita while Afton and Gabriel handed out everyone's food. Tyler had been in charge of getting ketchup and he handed out containers to everyone.

They had a quick discussion about the fact that food was always better like this, and they wondered if it was the festive attitude, the social atmosphere, or the food actually being better. They all ate happily for a bit while the alcohol worked its magic to further loosen spirits up.

"Did anyone happen to notice what kind of rides they have" Megan asked.

"I saw the zipper and the hammer," Tyler answered first.

"A huge Ferris wheel." Chloe pointed to where they could all see the ride.

"I saw a gravitron and a tilt-a-wheel while we were waiting for you to arrive earlier." Elijah answered.

"Yeah, I saw the zipper and the octopus," Angelina told everyone.

"They have a huge old-fashioned carousel and the teacups." Caden grinned at Megan.

"I love the teacups," Megan exclaimed getting laughs from most everyone. "It is the sneaky ride, you can really get those things whipping around."

"That's true," Nicole told the group. "Don't go on the teacups with Megan, mom. You won't like it."

Afton and Gabriel didn't have any experience with carnival rides and didn't say anything. Megan noticed. "What about you two? What are your favorite rides?" Megan was grinning as she heard screaming.

"I have never been to a carnival sweetheart." Gabriel answered.

"Well then, the guys will have to teach you how to spend entirely too much money to win cheap stuffed animals in rigged carnival games. Us ladies will eat cotton candy while you all act crazy." Megan said cheerily.

"What is cotton candy?" Afton asked curiously,

"I will show you." Megan realized if they continued with their questions, they would look strange. She shook her head at the two of them seriously. "I will break in you newbs." she said with a dismissive laugh.

Gabriel told his wife he was looking forward to it and clapped Afton on the back and gaining his friend's attention. They had gotten used to how easily Megan accepted their strangeness and were a little bit more open than maybe they should be with additional people around,

Everyone finished their meals and their drinks, deciding to walk around the booths for a while and do a little festival shopping. Megan found a bracelet, a pair of earrings, and a couple small trinkets that Gabriel gladly bought for her. She wanted very little, so he was happy to provide whatever she wanted.

Afton bought a couple small things including something that Gabriel was sure was for Chloe. It would make a nice first gift that wouldn't appear too extravagant, just simple and thoughtful. Gabriel looked around for a while, finally finding something to get for Megan as a gift. He thought that she might like it. Megan purchased something for Gabriel as well when he was busy looking around.

When everyone was shopped out, they took their purchases to the festival entrance and the men ran them out to store in the cars. They couldn't go to the Carnival carrying bags of items. A few minutes later the men came back and since it was finally getting dark, they all headed to the carnival area of the event.