How to describe Mardi Gras?

Mardi Gras is.... Mardi Gras is crazy fun.  Mardi Gras is mass chaos.  Mardi Gras is costumes.  Mardi Gras is friends, family's, students, co-workers, clients, bosses, and strangers all coming together to celebrate.  Mardi Gras is sitting in your lawn chair, a beer in one hand and the other up in the air catching beads.  Mardi Gras celebrations start the Wednesday before Mardi Gras with full out celebration and parades until Mardi Gras Tuesday!

Most people had work the week before Mardi Gras but that does not stop the city from starting the parades.  Every night, starting Wednesday, there were at least three parades that rolled down St. Charles and through the Qurater (the parade route that most of the floats fallow).  After work on Wednesday we grabbed a beer and walked down to the parade route to see our first Krewes.  Each Krewe in New Orleans is like a club or adult version of Greek life.  Each Krewe has a parade duing Mardi Gras--hence why there were so many parades.  There were about 20 floats pur parade with school marching bands and dance groups in between the floats.  Wednesday after work we grabbed our beers and biked down to St. Charles to watch the first parades.  We caught some beads and funny stuffed animals, saw some school bands that really impressed us, then biked home.  Thursday we all went to work and again after work put on some fun costumes, grabbed some beers, found a spot on the parade route and watched the Krewes go by.  Thursday one of the Krewes we saw was Muses, which is a famous all female Krewe known for throwing fancy decorated shoes.  You are luckey if you catch one of these shoes because the women throwing them are hard to convince. 

The way to get the good throws is to make eye contact with the people throwing.  Each float has a bunch of people holding long strands of beads, stuffed animals, cups, funny nick nacks, and what ever else they are throwing.  If you want something you have to catch the throwers eye.  They will point at you and you better be ready to catch what ever they are throwing and make sure no one snatches it out of the air before you!

Friday was when our visitors came into town! I came home after work to a very full house.  We had about 25 JV's from other cities visiting for Mardi Gras last weekend.  We had almost enough couch/bed space for all of them but luckily our upstairs is all carpeted so we had room.  It was fun having so many people in the house but made the weekend even crazier. We all went out to watch the parades together on Friday.  Saturday was a little different because the big parade that we all wanted to see what on a different street a little farther away.  Everyone was dressed and ready to catch the 3:15 bus when all of a sudden it started to poor. We were all crowded around under the tiny cover of the bus stop waiting for the bus.  IT was a little too much for some people so most of the group went back to the house to dry off and celebrate at the house.  Me and about 5 others got on the bus and made it to the parade route.  It rained all afternoon and night so when everyone else decided to make it to the parade it was to late to care about getting wet because everyone was going to be soaked.  Because of the rain not as many people came out to see the parade which meant more throws for us! It was a different adventure watching a parade in the poring rain but we had fun.

(This was right before the parade started and before the rain came. You have to love a giant Shrek!)

Sunday those with bikes rode to the parade rout in the evening and watched some of the more famous parades pass by.  Then my roommates and i went to a Trombone Shorty concert! We had bought the tickets weeks in advance and were so excited.  Trombone Shorty is a famous musician in New Orleans because of his amazing talent with a trombone and trumpet, but also because he is really good looking! We were in the front row all night.  The concert went until about 3:00am.  We rode our bikes home after which must have been hilarious for anyone watching us because we were singing Shorty songs, dressed in fun Mardi Gras outfits, and riding our bikes at 3:30am.  I would have laughed if i saw us!

(Here is a youtube video of him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBgMGuEf87Y )

Monday was more parades after we slept in until at least noon.  Most of our guests had left by Monday which was nice becasue the house was a little quieter.  But we left the pull out couch in the living room out so that we all could lounge while watching 'Friends' and eating take-out before that nights parades.  Tuesday was Mardi Gras day and it started with a wake up call at 6:00am for mimosas and costumes.  We made it to the parade and lasted until about 10:00am when we all decided that Mardi Gras had beet us and that it was time to go home.  But that was not before i caught a coconut! The 8:00am Mardi Gras parade is called Zulu and is known for its painted coconuts that the float riders will throw to the crowds.  I was getting a little tired of being pushed around by all the people fighting to make eye contact with the throwers so i stood back on the side walk and watched from a bit farther away.  As i watched one of the floats go by i noticed one of the riders pointing at me. I put my hands up just in time to catch the coconut that he had launched at me.  I caught a coconut! I think it was the big yellow tool bow i had in my hair and my Mardi Gras colored tu-tu that caught his eye :)

We never made it down to the Quarter or the Bourbon St. area because none of us really wanted to see that side of Mardi Gras.  We had a ton of fun in the areas that we were in, caught more than enough beads and random stuff for a life time, and basically knew exactly what we would see if we ended up in the Frenchquarter. Overall i think we did our first Mardi Gras right.  We had a great time, saw a ton of parades, and caught more random stuff than we will ever need!

If I am here next year I hope you all come visit :)