We're back from Mardi Gras and totally worn out. We had a great time, though! We got down to New Orleans about 5 on Friday and kept the evening pretty low-key with happy hour at a bar down the street and then dinner at a Central American restaurant and grocery shopping for the weekend at Walmart. We stayed on the West Bank with our friends Bobby and Keever. This is actually our second Mardi Gras with them and my third one with Bobby. A big group of us came with him one year in college. He's from there, and it's always better to go with someone who knows where to go and how to get around. It sure makes the trip a lot easier when you're not having to Mapquest everything.
Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and headed to mid-city for Endymion. This year the Endymion route was back to what it was pre-Katrina, so it was the only parade we would see that day. Our "spot" was with a group of Bobby's high school friends who were ready to party with eight kegs, five private porta-potties and a DJ. Needless to say, it was a LONG day from 9:30 in the morning until the parade rolled about 4. Here are a few pics from Saturday.
Yes, that's Kid Rock. He was the grand marshal for Endymion. I think I'll send that picture to my Granny. She has a crush on him... not quite sure why.
We made it home about 10 that night totally exhausted and ready for a good night's sleep before doing it all over again the next day.
Sunday was much more laid-back, which is good because I think that's about all we could handle. We stopped for White Russian daiquiris on the way Uptown and made it to the house of another friend of Bobby's just a few blocks off St. Charles. We had a bathroom to use, red beans and rice cooking and some burgers for later. Once we got to the parade route, we decided to make ourselves comfortable just a little bit behind the crowd where we could spread our stuff out and just sit and enjoy the day. It was nice and sunny and perfect for a relaxing afternoon of people-watching. There were four parades that rolled on the Uptown route, so we caught plenty of beads just sitting in our chairs. By the way, the title for this post came from Derek who gave me a quick lecture on not picking up beads from the ground and instead being aggressive enough to catch my own. :)
You can't really see it all that well, but this was one of the guys on a float proposing to his girlfriend with a big sign. Pretty cool idea, I think...
Here's Val Kilmer. He was grand marshal of Bacchus Sunday night.
Here's the Bacchasaurus float, one of the ones that's been in the parade for years.
And here's the Bacchagator...
By Sunday night we were so worn out that we barely made it home without me falling asleep. I'm definitely not a spring chicken anymore. It was a great weekend, and we had all day today to recuperate before heading back into work tomorrow. I think I have New Orleans out of my system for a while, and I'm definitely not ashamed of the amount of beads I actually caught the classy way without picking them up off the ground or showing anything to get them. All it takes is a little luck, a lot of yelling and a few cold beers. :) 
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