When I realized that today marked 100 days until Mardi Gras, I knew it would be the focus of today’s Thankful for New Orleans blog. There are so many facets of Mardi Gras, and I could write about it for weeks, but today I am focusing on the most beautiful part…parades!
Day 5 – Mardi Gras Parades
Having lived the first 26 years of my life in the Texas Panhandle, not surprisingly, I had no experience with Mardi Gras parades. Honestly, I thought Mardi Gras was a one-day celebration, and like most non-natives, I envisioned a wild party in the French Quarter. I could not have been more wrong. It took me exactly one beautiful February evening on St. Charles, watching families playing football in the street and seeing cute children on ladders, to make me realize that Mardi Gras was for me and my young family. From that first parade experience came several parades the following season, which then exploded into twenty-plus parades in the years that followed. My most successful season ended with 23 parades and a whole lot of loot! I am fortunate enough to have a son whose love of parades equals mine, and we have been known to spend 10-12 hours in the same spot collecting shiny treasures. It is exhilierating and exhausting, and it’s probably a good thing we get a full year to recover. If you’ve never gotten to experience a Mardi Gras parade, I highly recommend that you add it to your bucket list if you have one. And if you’re like me and don’t have one, just go book your trip right now. February 13 will be here quicker than you can say “Laissez les bon temps rouler!”
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