Our first Mardi Gras

D mentioned last week that his good friend from work, J, was going down to New Orleans this weekend for Mardi Gras and had invited him. J went to law school in NOLA, so it was a tradition for him. D didn't think he was going to go, but was thinking about it.

Well, at 11am on Friday, D called me saying that he had spoken to some cousins of his in New Orleans, and he had a place to stay, and he'd like me to come with him, but he wanted to leave right away. I hemmed and hawed for a bit. I'm not very good at spontaneous, and I could think of a million reasons not to go, but I decided to let it be for once, and I said yes. My boss graciously let me leave the office early, and I ran home to quickly pack. We threw our stuff into a bag and hit the road.

Well, of course, no spontaneous plan goes off without glitches. We encountered traffic-- a few jammed spots along the way, and then a huge accident right outside of New Orleans that stopped traffic for an hour and a half. We turned off the car and got out and spent some time chatting with our fellow Mardi Gras revellers. When everyone finally got to get back in their cars and get moving, we passed a car that had literally exploded. very scary. In total, the normally 5.5 hour trip to New Orleans took us over 10 hours. Yikes.

Additionally, D got a text message on the way down from one of the cousins saying he thought his brother had room, but it turned out he didn't We were well into the trip when we got this news, so we entered New Orleans with no place to stay but my car, and we knew odds of finding a hotel room in the midst of Mardi Gras were slim. We reconciled ourselves to the fact that we were just going to have to play hard all night, and play it by ear.

We arrived, parked near his cousin's house on St. Charles to at least ensure the car would be in a good location and took off on foot. We grabbed some late night dinner and started drinking. We went from St. Charles to Canal Street, to Bourbon Street for a while, to Harrah's casino..... we walked all over the place, soaking in the mayhem, sipping our beverages, and having fun. I definitely lost some money playing roulette at the casino, but I figure when I lose money in another city, it's like it doesn't count! Plus, I took advantage of the free drinks, so I probably came out around even.

We left Harrah's around 5:00am. We'd periodically stopped into hotels while walking to see about a hotel room for Saturday night. We figured we could stay out all Friday night and into Saturday daytime, try and find a room, and sleep for several hours before going out again. But much like Mary and Joseph trying to find an inn room, we were turned away at hotel after hotel. Finally, we stopped at the J.W. Marriott on Canal Street around 5:30am. Not only did they have a room for Saturday night, but it was available right then, and she would only charge us for one night. We took our exhausted, dirty selves up to bed and crashed hard for a few hours.

We awoke Saturday morning, and did as much as we could in the way of getting ready without having any of our stuff. It was all still back in my car a couple of miles away. We set out on foot again, headed in the direction of St. Charles to get some food, our first drink of the day, and our things. We saw several of the parades passing us, as well as a collection of the most interesting people you've ever seen. This weekend was perfect for people watching. We got some food, and frozen hurricanes, grabbed our stuff, stopped in and said hello to his cousin, and went back to the hotel for a shower. No shower has ever felt so good! After showering, we walked around the art district, went over the the French Quarter, and watched several really great street performances, including a group of guys that were on America's Got Talent (they were runners up to a group of gay Cowboys), and a guy who tied a rope to two columns in the French Quarter and performed a tight rope walking show. We also saw a couple walking hand in hand, both wearing blue jeans, and both topless, with body paint covering their top half. The girl was frequently photographed, and even stopped and had a friendly conversation with some cops. Only in new Orleans.

We went to Emeril's Delmonico that night. I thought it was good, but it wasn't as great as I expected. The Top Chef contestants had been there a month ago doing some filming, and D thought it would be fun for me since I'm such a fan of the show. I definitely enjoyed my food, but it wasn't the "wow" I expected from Emeril's place. We went back to Harrah's for a while, and then we both felt the overwhelming exhaustion that came from lots of drinking and partying and little sleep. We went back to the hotel and fell asleep around 11pm, and slept approx. 10 hours.

We woke up the next morning, packed, and headed back to Houston. The drive home took significantly less time than the drive there (thank God!). We really had a great time, and I'm glad I put aside my over planning tendencies for once. It turns out that maybe things do just work out.

But, if we return next year, I'll definitely be booking a room in advance ;).