No, I Was Not Shot--I'm Okay

My friend Lisa flew in for a short visit and arrived last Saturday evening. We did not time her visit specifically for Mardi Gras, but since it's a holiday down here and our command gave us some time off, it was the best time for her to visit. Unfortunately, she arrived with a stomach bug and spent the whole day on Sunday indisposed, to put it politely. The bug hit me on Monday, but not nearly as bad as it hit her, so we were still able to have our first authentic Mardi Gras experience on Fat Tuesday. We got an early start (0500) and headed into the French Quarter to beat the crowd. This year's Mardi Gras was attended by pre-Hurricane Katrina numbers, so I was pleased to see the Quarter pretty much deserted when we arrived. Our first stop was Cafe Du Monde, where I treated her to coffee and beignets:

Next on the agenda was to head over to Canal Street to stake our claim of land for the parades starting at 0800. The original plan was to see the Krewe of Zulu and the Krewe of Rex. These are the two biggest parades and, to put it simply, the Zulu parades were historically for black people (and in the early days went AFTER Rex), and Rex was historically for white people and it is the King of Rex who is also the King of Mardi Gras and is given the keys to the city for the day for his reign. Below are pics of the Zulu Rascals (who used to be called the Tramps):

What we didn't plan on was the length of the Zulu parade. Three hours later, Lisa and I were ready to grab some lunch and take a stroll down Bourbon Street to view the colorful characters that make up New Orleans society. We scored well on beads (day parades are family affairs and we earned our beads simply by catching as they were thrown), and Lisa even scored a "Golden Nugget" or a Zulu coconut. Apparently these are highly prized collector's items, dating back to 1910. They are painted either black or gold and are dated--Lisa caught a black one. I almost caught a gold one, but since it bounced around between me and another 13/14 year old girl, I let her have it. Below is a pic of me with my treasure:

So, we grabbed some lunch and when we left the restaurant and walked our way down the other side of Canal, we were able to see some of the Rex parade (since Zulu was a bit behind schedule, we wouldn't have had to wait long to see the Rex). It is definitely the parade to see and has a more Rennaissance theme to it (the Carnival of Venice being the root of modern-day Mardi Gras). But we continued down to Bourbon and walked the length of it so we could say we did. During the daytime, it wasn't so bad, but at night (from the newscasts I saw) starting on Sat evening, you couldn't turn around, the streets and sidewalks were packed so tight with humanity. Only in New Orleans are drag queens celebrated and a household name--unfortunately, we were not in time to see the costume contest that takes place on Bourbon every year. But, Lisa got into the spirit of things (she being a much more outgoing person than myself):

All in all the day was a good one and an interesting experience. At least I can say I've done Mardi Gras. I don't completely "get it" but I've at least checked that box. The shootings were unfortunate, but there were three others that occurred during the day as well that have not been adverstised. But the one thing I can say about the six that were shot, is that the first responders were on the scene quickly and got them evacuated quickly (being shot in the abdomen is not a good thing, so it's worth noting those two individuals are still alive). Anyway, Lisa flew back to Seattle this morning and I went back to work at noon, still nursing a sour stomach.