The NOLA Chronicles

I want to start this post by thanking those who made the trip to New Orleans possible.  Thanks to Billy for the time, Mom and Dad for the beer money, I mean “spending” money, United for the safe, on time flights, Ann for being a wonderful host and “The Freshmaker”.  I would also like to thank Pete, Sam and Patrick for putting up with some unnecessary C U Next Tuesday shenanigans and last but not least, to Ms. Christy for not only being a SUPER trip planner, a really wonderful friend and quite possibly my favorite traveling partner . . . next up . .. THE AMAZING RACE?   We’ll see.  . .

Here’s the good stuff.  I went to New Orleans. It was Carnival – which is the time before Fat Tuesday (which translates to Mardi Gras even though even the locals call it Mardi Gras during Carnival.)  So we hit Café du Monde, the benjets were amazing and tasted wonderful with a Diet Coke.  We got to meet Pete, The Freshmaker’s super great boyfriend.  I think he was not only floored by the amount of powdered sugar we got on his pants, but the extremely graphic topic of conversation taking place that lovely New Orleans afternoon.

 Canal Street was fun and even though we couldn’t find Brangelina’s house, we had some AMAZING fried chicken and PBRs.  Paging through the local paper, I saw an ad for a wig shop and that was SO fun!   Brad the wig master helped me find the perfect pink number to wear to the parades. Christy got some little dealies that made her look like a Fraggle. It was AWESOME.  After the wigs, we got all glittered up and caught the fever. 

We saw a billion parades. Actually, I don’t think that is an actual count, though it was really cool.  My favorite throws were the Muses.  The Muses Krew is all women.  They are super fun. Chicks just know how to give gifts. I don’t think there is any way around that. Bacchus had the best floats, hands down.  I was really impressed with the theme as well as the fact that HULK HOGAN was the Grand Marshall.  That guy is freaking huge. Jason Hervey was also on that float and was really digging my pink wig.  He pointed right at me and if I recall correctly, Mr. Hervey is known by the trashies as “Pervy Hervey” as this pal of Scott Baio likes his women.  I just scored some beads off of him. There is no restraining order necessary.

 We also got to see the massive destruction of Hurricane Katrina.  Even though much time has passed, there are still so many stories that need to be told and lives that need to be rebuilt.  The destruction is still of epic proportions and I have a knot in my stomach just thinking about what I saw that sunny February morning in the lower 9^th ward and the amazing misfortune of those living next to the Murphy Oil corporation.  To hear the stories of where people were and how they dealt with the disaster made it all so real. Everyone has their own tale and I wanted to get as much information as I could.   When we were done with the tour, I was glad we had another parade to go to. I really needed some cheering up at that point.

 

New Orleans wasn’t what I expected at all.  I’m not sure what I expected.  People freaked out like I was walking into a third world country.  They have Walgreens there.  How bad could it have been?  Um . . .ok.  So Bourbon Street is trashy.  We were barely down there. We watched parades from the neighborhoods Ann and her friends live in, so there were kids everywhere. I didn’t see one set of boobs while I was there.  I’m ok with that. Really, I am. 

 

I still can’t talk.  I was screaming at the faceless floats for plastic beads.  I brought home about ten pounds of beads and my kids went crazy.  Again, I still don’t have a voice. I will do anything for two happy little girls. Anything.

It is really good to be home.  It always feels great.

Peace Out

MCMILF

Brett Favre made it . . . I was proud of that!

The Hulk Fans were out with flying colors

This chili was FABULOUS.  Marcus and I enjoyed it.

This was my only NOLA cop encounter.  That was a good thing.

I’ll release one NOLA photo . . .

I have a huge post coming on my trip to New Orleans . .. I have a post in the works, though here’s a preview of my gal Christy and I catching the Mardi Gras Fever. We really had a great time. . . . as I said more to come . . . what’s the next trip?  Maybe the Amazing Race?!?

Peace Out. Stay tuned for more.
MCMILF