Mardi Gras!

We scheduled our adventure to coincide with Mardi Gras in New Orleans (NOLA) – see NASA still has me using acronyms!  Since we have never been to Mardi Gras and didn’t have a clue on what to do, when to do it, nor where to go – we booked a rally with Fantasy RV Tours, the same company that we tried to go with up in Alaska.  They planned everything including transportation, meals, entrance tickets and RV Park accommodations.  We just had to sit back and enjoy (oh yay, and pay).  Now NOLA celebrates the carnival season (January 6th till 47 days before Easter – Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday) with the biggest parades the entire two weeks before Ash Wednesday.  We were there for nine days.  I’ll take you through day by day on our itinerary:

Day 1 – Tuesday, February 26th

Arrived at the Pontchartrain Landing Marina and RV Resort.  Got signed up, picked up badges, tickets, etc.  Park and marina are nice, but wet and muddy as the rains have been coming down continuously.  Pontchartrain is the lake that broke the levee and flooded New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29th, 2015 – some 14 years ago.

That evening we had a buffet style masquerade ball dinner catered at the RV Park with an open bar (I know, nice) and finished off with a traditional King / Queen Cake.  Kat and I didn’t have the standard type Mardi Gras costumes so we improvised with what we had:

The only time of the year you can get King / Queen cake.  It’s like a kringle with frosting in standard Mardi Gras colors of purple, gold and green.  They bake a plastic baby into the cake and whoever gets it in their piece is the King and/or Queen.  Which means that you have to host the next party.  Guess who got the baby?

Me!  I’m the King!  The rest of the week I was called his majesty or just king.  I’m not sure any of the other rally members even learned my real name.  I never learned my Queen’s name.

Actually, it was Pat.  Couple of other photographs from the night:

Day 2 – Wednesday, February 27th

City tour.  Stopped by a cemetery to learn why the tombs are above ground (think about it, New Orleans is below sea level) and points of interest throughout the city.  Even got to get a beignet (delicious local French donut) at the Cafe du Monde food truck!

Afterwards we went to the venerable Court of the Two Sisters Restaurant for their jazz brunch.  Excellent buffet!

Before heading back to the RV Park, we had a couple of hours to explore the French Quarter and Bourbon Street:

Pretty calm now.  It will get wilder as the week goes on.  Off to see two parades, the Ancient Krewe of Druids and the Krewe of Nyx.  Viewing was great from the reserved seating complete with private port-a-potty.  Now Krewes are social clubs (kinda like a college fraternity or the Elks) that host the parade and pay for everything.  Each parade must have at least nine bands and fourteen floats.  Each Krewe has an unique item that they throw, not just beads – and no, you do not have to flash to get beads during the parades, it is for families.  If you want to flash for beads, head to Bourbon Street!  The Druids are one of the oldest krewes and the Nyx (all women) is relatively new.  I don’t know what the Druids threw, but the Nyx’s throw was decorated purses.  You are considered very lucky to get one of the prized throws.  Katrina got one.  Lucky!

Day 3 – Thursday, February 28th

After a late night, we headed out again at 8:00am for a real treat, “A Traditional New Orleans Breakfast” at the famous Brennan’s.  Brennan’s invented “Bananas Foster” so we got to have that as well!

We had a few hours of free time it explore the French Quarter some more and check out the sights:

New Orleans turned 300 in 2018, older than the United States – 58 years older.  Second oldest cathedral in the United States, Saint Louis (named after the French King).  The statue of Andrew Jackson in Jackson Square in front of the cathedral.  Jackson is important to NOLA because he was victorious against those damn pesky Brits in 1815 in the Battle of New Orleans (War of 1812).

That night we headed back to the parade route to see the Krewes of Babylon, Chaos and Muses.  Chaos cancelled due to the rain we had thoughout the day.  Luckily the rain stopped so that we could see the parades without rain gear on.  Muses, the other all women Krewe, throws shoes.

Met “Michigan Mike” who helped us catch beads and has been coming down to Mardi Gras for years.  It was really nice that he shared his catches with others around him.

I caught an avocado – yay!  Of course, Katrina grabbed two shoes:

Pretty, aren’t they?

Day Four – Friday, March 1st

Left at 8:15am after another long evening of snatching things thrown at you out of the sky, to head to Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World.  Kern’s is one of the largest float builders.  After a brief movie and tour, we were able to walk around some of the stored pieces of floats (you see, they reuse as much as possible to contain costs).

To keep the pieces lightweight, they start with styrofoam covered with papier-mâché and then painted.  Very cool to see the process.  Reminded me of seventh grade and using papier-mâché over a balloon – ah, art!

Afterwards, we were able to walk around The Presbetere which houses the State of Louisiana’s Mardi Gras Museum and the Hurricane Katrina Museum (I can tell you that Kat has never heard her named called as much as she did during our stay in NOLA).  We explored the museums and then a bit more of the French Quarter with our new friends from Ohio, Scott and Anne Moore.

The “port-a-potties” is the actual entrance to the restrooms in the museum – what kidders!  After the museums, the four of us decided to check out a couple of the fame-outs drinking establishments pointed out to us on the city tour the day before.

Bloody Mary’s at Cafe Pontalba, Green Fairies (Absinthe) at Pirates Alley Cafe, and finished off with Hurricane’s at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar.

Of course the afternoon would not be complete without a little sight seeing:

Later that night we went to the Ridgeway for a catered dinner and the annual Bal Masque presentation.  The Bal Masque was put on just for our group with the royalty of Krewe Carrollton of which our Fantasy RV Tour guide is a member of.  I’m not so sure of this stuff, but you decide for yourself in these pictures:

Picture of our newest friends, the Moore’s, Kat and I all dressed up, the king and queen of Carrollton, and our tour king (me) and queen (Pat) with some of the Carrollton Tableau.

Headed back to the RV Park to await the arrival of Peter and Maureen Acker, friends from Mundelein/Libertyville.  They will be joining us fo the next few days to soak up all that is Mardi Gras, NOLA style.

Day Five – Saturday, March 2nd

Later departure (9:00am) into the city for a ride on the historic paddle wheel, Natchez:

They gave us about 1.5  hours to look around before boarding the Natchez, so our new friends (Moore’s) and old friends (Acker’s) headed back into the French Quarter for another Bloody Mary.  Once on board, we had another Bloody and sat down to watch the scenery go by whilst traversing the river.  Honestly, we talked and laughed so much that we really didn’t watch the scenery too much!

We decided to forego the bus back to the RV Park and show the Acker’s more of the French Quarter (since we are experts now).  It is getting a bit more festive now as we are getting closer to Fat Tuesday:

Taxied back to the RV Park ($60.00 now, was $15.00 earlier in week) just in time to let the dogs out and catch the bus for the Krewe of Endymion parade.  This is the Ultimate of all Super Krewe Parades.  It did not disappoint:

Lots of LED lights!  Much more detailed floats:

We caught so many beads that we almost lost Maureen:

The Fleur-de-lis (universal symbol of NOLA):

Day Six – Sunday, March 3rd

After another late night, we were up and out to visit the National World War II Museum. This is the second most visited museum in the world right after the Louvre.  An absolutely fantastic museum that must be on everyone’s bucket list:

Extremely well-done exhibits!  One could spend several days going through all of the exhibition areas.  I would like to go back and spend the time to read all the plaques, watch all the movie clips and listen to the first encounters portrayed through out each pavilion.  The reason that this museum is in NOLA is due to the Higgins boats.  These were the most manufactured boats during the war and they were critical to all the beach landings in both the European and Pacific Theaters.  Higgins boats are the ones that open in the front and the troops, supplies, vehicles get off right on the beach.  You have most likely seen them in the opening sequences of “Saving Private Ryan”.

That evening we went back to watch another parade, the Krewe of Bacchus which boasts over 1200 members and 33 animated floats (technically a float is a wagon pulled behind a tractor – well Bacchus added multiple wagons behind each tractor, up to four).  Outstanding, we get more beads!  The Busse Bus is already tilting to one side due to the amount of beads we have collected.

Beautiful floats with a lot of detail.  More beads……

Day Seven – Monday, March 4th

We had a very interesting start on this day by visiting the Den (storage location / lodge) of the Krewe of Thoth.  The Thoth Parade was during the day the day before and we were able to crawl around on the floats and see the aftermath.  Extra beads that weren’t thrown, garbage and five gallon buckets filled with the remnants of 40+ guys drinking on a float for at least six hours…(it was kinda like dumpster diving!)

One of the highlights of this tour (for Kat & I) was the demonstration from the New Orleans School of Cooking.  I now know have to make a perfect roux – and I also know that it is mostly butter.  That’s why it’s so good.  Our cooking expert was fantastic and showed us (and we got to eat) Corn & Crab Bisque, Shrimp Creole,  Bread Pudding with whiskey sauce and award winning pralines.  Excellent food, I particularly liked the Corn & Crab Bisque and got seconds.  Also, there was “free” Abita (local beer).

As all good things must end, so did our time with Peter and Maureen who had to head back home to Chicago because they missed the cold and work so much.  We enjoyed having you visit!

After their departure, we headed back to the RV Park for “Cajun Night”.  Cajun food, music and dancing!  Sounded like fun…..

Since I was the “king” and had obligations to host the next party, I improvised the best I could.  I had purchased King’s Cake Vodka at Kern’s and after my toast, gave everyone a shot.  After tasting it, I was happy to get rid of the rest of the bottle – way too sweet for me!

Kat and Scott got to join in on the fun by playing the washboard:

Day Eight – Fat Tuesday, March 5th

Up and out early to view the all-day parades of Zulu and Rex (the “King of Carnival”).  After getting into our seats at about 8:40am, we waited and watched the Zulu parade.  Zulu is the African American parade and it took forever.  I don’t know how many floats, bands, and just people walking were in the parade, but after four hours we were done!

Kat was able to snag some coveted coconuts (the Zulu throws):

Doesn’t she have a lovely set of coconuts?  I thought the whole thing was a bit political incorrect.  But, when in NOLA, I guess.

We were told that if you dressed up that you would catch more throws, but it was cold and limited us:

Scott and Anne invited over to see there Dutch Star and have dinner.  Wonderful to spend some quality time with our new friends.  Their rig is beautiful!

Day Nine- Ash Wednesday, March 6th

We enjoyed a nice breakfast at the RV Park and got to say goodbye to all the partipants.  Parting is such sweet sorrow, particularly with our friends whom I’m sure we will see again during our travels.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to New Orleans!  I hope you got a glimpse of what Mardi Gras in NOLA is like through this blog and pictures.  I’m sure it can be whatever one wants it to be.  We had a great time, although too many beads….

Now time to relax a bit as my “check liver light” came on….