Happy Mardi Gras!
I couldn't even watch the news today and see chips of all the madness that was happening over there in the Big Easy this past weekend, I knew that I would just get upset that I was not there with my beads on and a daiquiri telling to everyone "Happy Mardi Gras". I really wish that we would have gone. I just talked to my mom, they went up for the weekend and just got home and she was so excited to tell me the stories of the great parties and being arms length from Kid Rock, I totally didn't even know she was a fan.
I'd like to share with you my favorite part of Mardi Gras...it's the Saturday before Mardi Gras Day, Endymion Day. We lived in New Orleans for about 4 years after leaving Mississippi and I had an aunt that lived/lives right near City Park, the start of Endymion. Every year someone in my family goes the night before and reserves an area, in which case means has to sleep in the area. They really go all out, the food, drinks, complete with a port- a -potty ( for anyone who has ever been to Mardi Gras, they can appricate that). It is just a great day of throwing a football, line dancing in the street, and since this area has become so popular in the last 10 years they have a giant stage set up for entertainment, which is how my mom some how ended up in VIP listening to Kid Rock, she says to me, he sang that Sweet home Alabama song...:) The parade lasts like two hours, it's unreal. The floats are beautiful, the middle/high school bands are amazing, these kids walk a parade route that is like 20 miles long and during Mardi Gras they do it MANY times, The best part is watching someone who has never been to Mardi Gras, enjoy it. You think that you wouldn't go crazy over a bead but in the moment ...you would. It's not all like what you see on TV, this is about tradition, family and having a good time. In my 29 years, I probably have been to Mardi Gras 15 times from the time I was a kid and I can't wait to bring my kids one day and let them sit up on the ladders and yell at the top of their lungs "throw me something mister".
"If no tourists came, we'd still have Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is a state of mind." ~ Ed Muniz
I grew up going to Houma, La for Mardi Gras - I remember yelling so much I was hoarse and running from one block to the next to catch the same parade over and over again. I definitely want to take the kids one year.
ReplyDelete