The Stanley Parable
Welcome to the Red Parade
The biggest reason for Emma Lou and Dominic coming down to see us this weekend was that the Carolina Hurricanes’ celebratory parade was happening on Saturday. To get ahead of myself a little, approximately 150,000 fans were in attendance to revel in the glory of the recent Stanley Cup victory. Bear in mind that number is about a third of Raleigh’s population, and it dwarfs the previous parade in 2006 with an estimated 8,000 fans!
Now that the stage (or perhaps, rink?) has been set, it was immediately clear to us that driving downtown was an undesirable prospect. We searched on Raleigh’s website and learned that the preferred transport option was the city bus. Truthfully, the notion of this frightened me. I had seen our local bus stop and was nervous of its regular clientele. Regardless, we decided it was worth a try instead of toiling in our own car, desperate for a parking spot. And what a good decision this was.
We walked to the bus stop and found ourselves to be the first stop of the line. Future passengers were adorned in Canes gear and couldn't have been more stoked to see fellow Caniacs on their way downtown. The ride only took forty minutes, and as a minor spoiler to the parade's end, we found the same fortune on our return trip. It couldn't have gone any better if we tried!
The parade was scheduled for 11:00 and we settled into our spots around 9:30. The streets were already teeming with fans in black and white; we later heard that the parking decks allotted to the event were full before 7:00. Notable members of the parade included the Raleigh mayor, the Hurricanes head coach (and 2006 Stanley alumni) Rod Brind'Amour, and the winning team themselves. I was particularly starstruck by Brandon Bussi, the star keeper of the Stanley Cup back half games. Finally, the parade naturally closed with the Cup itself.
We returned home for a well-needed nap. The day was still young, and there was more traveling to be made...