New Orleans
Monday, February 7
Woke up around 11 AM or so, got all gussied up for Mardi Gras. Went to lunch with Ross, Patrick, Derrick, Chris, and Jackie. Eventually we all made it to one spot (Patrick’s) and left to pick up Kelly at a Home Depot. Honestly the ‘morning’ is a blur, understandable I suppose after surviving all the rest of my trip.
So.
Riding in Jackie’s truck with Debra, Ross, Patrick, and Kelly. Chris was riding in Derrick’s truck. We made it to New Orleans around 5 PM I think, after a looooong drive on the causeway through the swamps. Stories galore, most of which I don’t really remember because I don’t know the people in them. Then we arrived in N.O. and made a pit stop before wandering down to Bourbon Street. Walked through half of the street toward Canal, in hopes of catching a parade. Ended up wandering around the scary district (fortunately there were eight of us) and finally standing on a corner for about forty minutes along the parade route before we gave up and wandered a bit. Stood on the opposite corner to watch the Krewe of Proteus parade – icky red beads with white seahorses, but authentic I suppose. I liked the floats a lot – very arty. I likee.
Flashes of images, maybe caught by Ross’s camera? Anyway, a few momentary glimpses.
Food at Popeye’s. Photos. Trying to catch beads. Crowds. Lots of high quality high school bands. Ross and I standing around laughing while they all consume Hand Grenades. Portapotties. Kelly getting plastered and making out with random men who offer her drinks from flasks in their pockets. Guys dancing half-naked through the streets to get beads. Girls doing the same. Watching people interact. Firefighters laughing on their trucks. Giant beads. Patrick calling my roommate for laughs. Calling Jordan. Babysitting Kelly. J&D getting pissed/pissed off (depending on your preferred definition). Holy Rollers with misspelled signs. Trojan Man giving away Warming Sensations Lubricated Condoms.
The KILT (and what was beneath – EWWWWWW fake and plastic and thank god Patrick was standing between me and the guy but J&D got a full view).
On the way back Debra and Patrick singing along to weird songs and Ross taking photos of Derrick’s truck ahead of us while Kelly was leaning out of it with her vomit bouncing off the road… eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww but Derrick and Jackie were taking care of her. Following behind as Debra drove her the rest of the way home so that she wouldn’t end up planted on a road. Stopping at the gas station as Derrick frantically scrubbed his truck… being very thankful we didn’t have further to go that night.
For this was Monday, and the next day was Mamou for the country Mardi Gras.
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