Mardi Gras- NOLA style

Well, we did it. We made it to Mardi Gras. I'd never been before and it was pretty awesome.
We flew in Thursday night after a weird flight delay. We were supposed to stop in Houston, but stay on our plane all the way through to New Orleans, but while we were stopped in Houston, they kicked us off the plane and told us the plane had been "taken out of service". We were put on the next flight out. Luckily, there were drinks and coffee to be had and we laughed our way through our delay.
We arrived on St. Charles at our condo in the middle of a parade. We ran upstairs and dumped our luggage and then ran back downstairs. We watched a bit of parade and then went and ate dinner at Cannon's a few blocks down from us. Then Keith and Tiffany stayed to watch more parades while I headed up with Michael to get ready for bed. We were exhausted!
Friday morning we awoke early and set up our tarp and chairs for front row viewing of the parades. We walked down to Bluebird for breakfast and then took a really nice stroll down Magazine street to the Whole Food where we picked up food for the rest of our trip and cabbed it back to the condo. Then Tiff and I packed up our cooler and bags and headed down to tailgate the parade for a few hours while Keith and Michael took the trolley down to Bourbon Street to check it out.
We all had a great time and met up an hour or so before the parade so we could continue our tailgate party together. People sit out along the street all day long and drink and eat and play catch or washers and people watch. It's amazing.
The parades started that evening and we watched for hours and caught tons and tons of beads, stuffed animals, coins, wands, etc. We drank quite a bit and made fools of ourselves in the best way possible. Then we wandered back up to the condo to get some sleep before we did all again the next day.
Saturday morning, we woke up and took our tarp and chairs back out for a new parade watching position. Then we packed our swag bags and coffee mugs and went down to wait for the daytime parades. The crowd was much different this time with lots of children playing in the street and lots of family.
My husband is so fun to be with during these things. He doesn't know a stranger and in minutes knew the names of all our neighbors and their kids and had hooked us up with the perfect locals to clue us in to the jokes of the parade and the names of all the marchers and float riders. He's so fun and was the life of the party.
These parades were great fun and we caught more and more things. After the parades were over we packed up and rested and refreshed and then waited almost an hour for a cab to take us to the quarter. We wanted to see what Bourbon street was like during Mardi Gras.
It was crazy. I have to come to the conclusion that Bourbon street is not my thing. It was dirty and seedy. There were a lot of large naked women and drunk frat boys and tourists with white tennis shoes and vomit and fights. It was a lot of people looking at other people. I would have preferred watching it from a balcony with a great bottle of wine, but being in the trenches was not my thing. Still, I'm glad I did it and saw it. I can cross it off my bucket list now. We ate dinner nearby and then headed for Harrah's to use the bathroom and get a cab. Keith decided to stay and gamble, but the rest of us headed home to get some much needed rest.
My poor sister had started this trip with pink eye in one eye and it had by this point moved to the other eye as well. She was miserable and almost blind a lot of the trip, but partied with a vengeance. She was a trooper.
Sunday morning we woke and packed and cleaned and then headed for one last parade before we had to leave. We then grabbed our bags and headed for the airport.
I enjoyed myself and I loved the parades! They were amazing to see and it was so fun to be interactive with the floats. I love the city of New Orleans, but other than the parades, I think I much prefer it during a quieter time of year. I missed the river and the good foods and good music that I've enjoyed on previous visits. The condo was gorgeous of course and the weather was pretty good for February. I missed my kids so much, but they didn't miss me at all! They were disappointed their vacation was over. It was definitely a memory that I will always carry. Please oh please, come over to flickr and check out the pictures. I can't put them all up here and I think they are really fun.
XXOO, Amber