Mardis Gras in New Orleans that is! We just got back from visiting Martha and Mark for the festivities. Mark has an apartment near a marina on the North shore of Lake Pontchartrain just about half an hour north of downtown which is accessible by a 23.87 mile long bridge (the longest in the world) across the lake. Martha says the lake is only 10-16 ft deep and they have to constantly dredge it to let the big shipping boats get through. We started our drive down on Friday morning. Most of it was spent driving straight south from chicago throug Illinois, but we passed through a bit of Missouri and Arkansas and finally into Tennessee to spend the night in Memphis. Downtown Memphis is very surreal and feels like an empty movie set. On Saturday we drove through Mississippi and finally into Louisiana to arrive at Mark and Martha’s. On Sunday we set out for the city to watch 4 of the weekends parade’s the best of which was the Baccus parade in the evening which lasted more than two hours! The parades are a blast with great floats, marching bands, and members of the hosting krewe throwing beads and stuffed animals and other trinkets by the handful into the crowds. On Monday Martha showed us around the french quarter and magazine street. Tuesday was spent at another parade and then at a couple parties on Bourbon Street that Mark had access to through work. Bourbon street lived up to its reputation! People hung out on the balconies lining the street throwing beads down at people passing by. In some places there were so many people on the street you could barely get through. Monday we had a long drive all the way back to chicago, but arrived in one piece with no arrests on our records! Look for pictures later this weekend when Ruben posts them.
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26Feb
Posted by racheln @ 8:23 pm
