Bumblebee Ride at Coney Island
What a strange title for a post, right? But that’s exactly what we experienced last weekend!
June 19th marked the annual Mermaid Parade at Coney Island, which is an experience to say the least. Sand, surf, sun, mermaids, and everything else in between! The parade includes anyone who wants to participate – little girls’ birthday parties, groups making a statement (think “boycott BP” for this year), mermaids-at-heart. It’s Coney Island at its best.
If you haven’t been to Coney Island, let me describe it to you. Imagine a carnival, sideshow, boardwalk, amusement park, and beach all mixed into one. It can be fantastic or a little too much, depending on your mood. It is also very loud. Coney Island is home to the infamous Cyclone (a rollercoaster that’s been there since 1927) and Nathan’s Famous (origin – 1916) hot dogs.
The idea of a hot dog, a quintessential New York snack, was much more appealing to us than the Cyclone, but that’s just me.
After an hour on the train with some crazies dressed as pirates (did I not mention that pirates are also common to the parade?) We arrived in time to see the last half of the parade and then eagerly headed over to the site of Nathan’s, right off the boardwalk, along Surf Avenue. Then we saw the line…maybe 150 people long. It was hot and we were hungry, so we decided to save Nathan’s for another post which brings us to the nachos…
San Loco Ballpark Nachos
We still wanted something to eat that fit in with the theme of the day – fun, campy, not-entirely-healthy – so we stopped off at San Loco in the Lower East Side. San Loco’s self-proclaimed Gringo-Mex menu is great! Ordered a
couple of taco locos, Pacificos, and the star of the show – a small order ($2.60) of the Ballpark Nachos, complete with tortilla chips, squeezee cheezee nachco cheese sauce, sour cream, fresh jalapenos, taco sauce, and ground beef. Totally bad but oh-so-good. Yummm.
End of the Mermaid Parade 2010
It was the perfect punctuation to a day spent in the summer sun, mish-mashing with mermaids, pirates, and rollercoasters. We’ll be heading back to Nathan’s on a less crowded day.
Queen Bee Eats for a Day 