After class on Friday we packed everything up, loaded the car and set off to New Orleans!

Arriving at 8 in the morning I napped though no one else did. I definitely needed it having stayed awake all night to help keep DmentD awake as he was driving.

We met up with some people for lunch, a place called Rocky and Carlos (who have the tagline of ‘Ladies Invited’) with huge huge Huge portions. I had the spaghetti and meatballs and couldn’t finish it all! We headed over to a friend’s house and then made our way to the parade route nearby.

This was Endymion, with the theme of Tales of Sleep and Dreams. We were right at the start point, where they were injecting the bands into the parade.

My first view of a Mardi Gras parade, the sheer number of people, the large floats, beautifully decorated, elaborate decorations. The people on the floats looked a little strange with the masks but I soon found myself yelling and waving, all for some plastic beads!

We left the parade tired, but happy, weighed down by our own body weights in beads.

We went to Crescent City Brewhouse in the French Quarter for dinner. I had the most delicious duck, with a pepper gelee and an andouille cornbread. There was talk of walking to get beignets and see some of the French Quarter for the people with us who hadn’t been there before but tiredness won and we went back to where we were staying and went to bed early!

Up the next morning we spent a couple of hours relaxing before heading off to R&O’s for lunch. We quickly ran a few errands, picking up some King Cakes to bring back with us, and some other staples that can’t be found in Austin.

Then we headed back into the fray, for our next parade. Meeting up with some more friends we chatted for a while before the parade started. Today’s parade was Bacchus, with the theme Creatures of the Imagination. The King of Bacchus was Val Kilmer.

Bigger floats, a longer parade, the traditional floats that appear every year. And the people on the floats seemed to have more variation in their costumes, in keeping with the float they were on.

Maybe it was just me, but they seemed to be throwing less beads, on the other hand, the beads I did get were more of the signature beads rather than the generic ones.

It was fantastic to see, and I enjoyed it. With the bonus of being able to move around a bit more for this parade!

We left the parade and went to Lola’s for dinner (Spanish Creole, lots of garlic and oh so tasty) before picking up all our things and getting back on the road again.

As for the trip down we left about midnight, and made it back into Austin about 8ish. I had to catnap a few times feeling guilty for leaving DmentD awake on his own, catching half hour at a time.

Funnily enough we got home and fell straight into bed, only getting up when we did so I could get ready for class!

It was an awesome weekend that I thoroughly enjoyed, even though (or perhaps because) I’m still recovering from it *grins*

*pictures from Bacchus pending*