Mardi Gras

11 February 2010
This started out to be a nice day, just cold with some wind. We were bussed to breakfast at Brennan’s, located in the French Quarter. The sit-down breakfast consisted of French bread, a baked apple in a cream sauce, eggs Houssarde (like eggs Benedict over a red meat sauce), and banana flambé. We then were given a 2 hour walking tour of the French Quarter, ending at Café du Monde. There is a lot of history here from the French, Spanish, and American eras. As time for the bus to depart was approaching we took out beignets. There was not enough time for shopping. As soon as we got back to the RVs the rain began. The parades were cancelled for this night, so we cocooned in the motor home. We had to take the dog out in the rain and mud!

12 February 6:00 AM
The wind and rain were fierce all night, making it hard to sleep. We are worried about how much damage was done because the ground is already so saturated. We hope this stops so the parades can continue tonight. The groups building and riding on the floats pay for everything themselves: the floats, costumes, beads, etc. No public money is used for Mardi Gras.