I'm not crazy. Tell me where you live!

The minute I heard there was going to be a Mardi Gras this year, I knew I had to go. Melissa and Jerry agreed with me and so we took the days off work and made our way to NOLA for the festivities. For the few people who read this site that might not understand Mardi Gras, in town most adults view it as something to do with your kids and those pictures you see of Bourbon Street rarely contain any locals. This means we didn't go to the Quarter, Melissa didn't flash anyone, and we were almost always surrounded by children. With that out of the way, on to the recap.

Friday was a long day. We left Austin around 9:45 and were making decent time until just outside of Baton Rouge. Then we went ten miles in one hour. Didn't really time Baton Rouge well this time. We got off the interstate and found a back way on the West Bank that included 3172, a crazy road in the middle of nowhere. We dropped Jerry off for dinner with his parents, met up with LeeAnee, and caught the Metairie parades at Jigger's. By the way, Jigger's makes a tasty burger. The crowd seemed normal for a Metairie Friday night. The only weird thing was I felt old looking at all the high school students hanging out. Ten years since high school. Wow.

Saturday we missed Iris but made it down to St Charles in time for Tucks. By that point we knew Endymion had been postponed and the crowd was pretty thin as a result. Tucks was good though, and funny, as is their way. Parking in a flood damaged neighborhood was a bit weird, but at least there was activity there. Saturday night we visited with the families and talked at length about our plans for the summer including moving back, Europe, and jobs. Good folks and good conversation. After dinner, we met up with Tony and Amee and a few of the Beans and made our way to the Balcony on Magazine. I'd really like to spend more time at bars on Magazine. Need to add that to the list.



Sunday, oh dear Lord Sunday. With Endymion moved to Sunday, there were five parades scheduled, two of them being superkrewes. We met up with Chris and his cronies on St Charles near Napolean by the Temple. We got there around eleven. We left around ten. It was a long day. The crowds were impressive, larger than I remembered, possibly due to our location or the number of parades. I stayed in the back most of the time, watching the parade but not really trying to catch too much. I was really just trying to take it all in, and people watch of course. And man was it a good day for that. So much so we even bumped into a number of people we knew including Diego, the Mouras family, and Chase. After everything was over, we tried to find food, which in a post Katrina greater New Orleans isn't all that easy at seven much less ten. We finally settled on Cane's and got there just before the closed. I love Cane's.



Monday we took LeeAnne around town to see the destruction. Actually drove around the Lower Ninth Ward which I had yet to do. Crazy. Reminded me of the Gulf Coast damage but with all the debris still in place. Having the streets cleared but the lots covered in debris is just an odd site to see. Another odd site, a jogger in Lakeview. Freaked me out. We had lunch at Martin's Wine Cellar, which is way more uppity than I remember, but still good. To end things we drove through the Garden District to see something nice to end the day. It is an amazingly pretty area. That night we met up with the whole Barattini family for Zeus in Metairie. Parades are more fun with kids, they just are. After the parade we met up with Richard at the Bulldog. See, already making progress on that Magazine bars list.



Tuesday we had a lazy day watching parades on TV and preparing ourselves for the drive back. The drive was uneventful but there is one more thing to say. The Accord is awesome. And here are the pictures.