THE MARCH OF THE PEABODY DUCKS

The only good image of the ducks coming out where you can actually see all of them.

Our Little Glamour Queen...doesn't she look glamorous in her leopard?

Natalie waiting to see the Peabody Ducks.

Of course, she wasn't waiting alone. Notice the black and white images. I despise red-eye and I can't seem to always avoid it with our point and shoot camera thus black and white images!

To those who are not aware of the Peabody Duck tradition. I first saw them in 1992 on our first gin trip to Memphis when Randy first became head ginner in Tallulah. Most the time we take the annual trip as a (paid by the co.) get-a-way for me and Randy, but over the years we have taken the kids to see them too. This was Natalie's first trip. There's a long story about the history of the ducks...something about the Peabody being a hunting lodge. Some hunters that had too much to "drink" had come back from a duck hunting trip and they brought there live (yes, live) decoy ducks into the lobby and they swam in the water fountain thus the tradition of the Peabody Ducks began. Every day around 11:00 the duck master goes to the top floor to "Duck's Penthouse apartment" and escorts them to the elevator. The duck master leads them out of the elevator to march onto the red carpet laid out just for them to the water fountain. At 5:00 in the afternoon he will escort them back to the elevator to go back up to their place for the rest of the evening (until they come back again the next day).

The next image is the elevator opening up with the duck master and the ducks as they are coming down. I added the closer image of this at the top of this post. It is a cropped closer version. I cropped hoping you could actually see the ducks. This image shows the crowd looking. This is the general set up. I circled the duck master and the ducks to draw your attention to them because in that particular image---as you can see it would be easy to overlook. I was hoping to get an image of them as they walked by with Natalie sitting on the floor in the background. Cari had the camera and even if I had it and it had been my good camera, it still probably would not have gone my way. These were some fast ducks. Some new information that I learned this time when they gave the brief history on the duck march is that the ducks are changed out every 3 mos...well actually retired. And he said that these ducks were pretty new...they had only been at the Peabody for a few weeks and that they were unpredictable. One thing for sure...they were the fastest Peabody Ducks that I had ever seen!

So when your best laid plans don't work out and they usually don't, take photos of your little one watching the ducks in the water. We still didn't get any great shots, but I think what we have are good enough to help Natalie remember her duck experience.

Natalie watching the ducks with Daddy...

The ducks swimming by quickly...

Natalie was very upset because she wanted to pet them. I wasn't sure of what the "duck policy" was so I told her that they would bite. And I think really would have...at least the boy duck would. We got so tickled watching them. The Mallard kept biting at the girls. Natalie said, "that boy duck is mean!" He's either mean or just flirting. I guess I am just not that familiar with "normal" duck behavior.

'DUCK WATCHING'

We enjoyed introducing Natalie to the Peabody Duck tradition. It is always so neat introducing something new to her. I love that childlike wonder!

~~~Natalie's Mimi