Happy Lundi Gras!

Well, I survived the parade day from hell. Me and my road dawg (yellowjacket) got out there at 7:30 as planned and let me tell ya, it was cold out there. We layered up pretty well and had some blankets with us so, it wasn’t too bad.  It was still nice and empty under the bridge at  Lee Circle so, we had our pick of the day.  Yellowjacket got nice and comfy while I walked to the gas station and picked up some hot chocolate for her….the things we do for our kids.

While it was empty under the bridge, right by us on St. Charles Ave. told a different story…

 

Yeah, folks were already out on the neutral grounds  in full force and Lee Circle wasn’t any better…

I had forgotten that, in addition to Midcity, Bacchus and Endymion they had two more parades…Okeanos and Thoth that rolled as well. That made for a total of 5 parades rolling that day uptown and two of the five were super krewes. It was like Mardi Gras day out there. By 11:00 a.m. the crowd was like this…

with many more to come.  Okeanos rolled on time, MidCity was late as hell(and chinchy), Thoth is my new favorite krewe…they threw something fierce! Reminded me of the old days when riders knew how to “make it rain” with throws.  By the time Thoth hit the streets, the crowd was at Mardi Gras day level.

Bacchus hit my area at 8:30 p.m. and I had been out there for over 12 hours. I was tired at hell and people started trying to move their way to the front which, I’m used to being a native. But, after 12 hours…umm, I gotta say, I wasn’t my nice, bubbly self out there with folks trying to “sneak” into my territory. I was already by the barricades(you can see in the first pic), how some people think they’re going to jump the barricades and just stand there all willy-nilly in front of me and my kids is beyond me.

All I’m gonna say about that is…by the time I finished, people were moving everywhere but, by me. LOL

I hadn’t seen Bacchus in ages and was glad I went.

Bacchus is the only krewe that has floats you get to throw beads at..that’s always fun!

The oldest float you throw back at  is King Kong and he’s still rolling so, if you all ever go to a Bacchus parade, make sure you have some junk beads (beads you don’t want) ready to throw at Kong…

Andy Garcia was the King of Bacchus and he was having a ball up there…

By the time Bacchus finished passing, it was 10:30 p.m. and we still had Endymion left to go.

Many people left after Bacchus. We waited about 20 minutes for Endymion but, it was almost 11 p.m. and they hadn’t made it by us yet so, we left.

Made it home around midnight…very sore, very tired.

Took a shower and fell into a coma.

Would I do it again?

YOU BETCHA!

I’m NOLA through and through.

Every Year At Carnival Time…

Ok, if you knew the rest of that phase…you’ve been listening  to Carnival music way too long.

Well, I’m back from the dead…sorta, kinda. I still have no taste buds to speak of yet.  The flu is hell and whomever thought a “hot toddy” was a great idea just loves to drink. That stuff is nasty! LOL

At least I can be among the living now and it’s

right on time because, Carnival time is in full effect right now…

gotta catch me a few parades.

I’ll be doing plenty of carnival posts for a minute.

Since  I usually get hits regarding tickets for Mardi Gras Grandstand seating and Endymion,

let me put on here that, Ticketmaster isn’t selling them anymore.

Ya gotta get them from City Hall and they jacked the heck out of the prices!

Grandstand tickets for Mardi Gras day is $50 a person…they dun lost their mind!

St. Aug is in Rex this year and I gotta support my fellas so,

I’ll be on Napoleon Ave  to catch Rex…thank you very much.

Just me,the hubby, a box of Popeyes’s chicken, a few drinks and our comfy “carnival chairs”…

don’t know where the kids will be.

My guess is, PurpleKnight will be chaperoning for Aug(he’s going through “marching withdrawals” right now)

and YellowJacket always spend that day with her dad.

He does it big for Mardi Gras. They bring out the big grill spend the entire day grilling, drinking and everything.

After Rex,I may go spot a few Indians this year…haven’t done that in a while.

One thing for sure, if we don’t get any rain…it’s gonna be a great season.

Temp’s been in the 70′s and with weather like that, it’s hard to stay inside.

The crowds will be huge.

OH, for those of you out-of-state who want to see the parades,you can catch them here on the “paradecam.” It’s a camera located at St. Charles  and Napoleon and it features LIVE STREAMING of the parades with sound!  All the parades(except Endymion) pass this intersection so, you can  catch the ones that are rolling this weekend and next. Next weekend, be sure to  catch Bacchus as it passes…if you’ve never seen it…it’s a must!

I have to work so, I’ll be watching the parades using the cam today.

Krewe of Pontchartrain rolls at 2 p.m. and Krewe of Pygmalion rolls at 6:45 p.m. (Aug is in Pygmalion…gotta put this up for my “purple knight followers”)

Both parades will be on the parade cam.

Happy Mardi Gras!