After "chilling" in Florida for almost 6 weeks, I drove through the panhandle on over to New Orleans, Louisiana. I caught the last 5 days of Mardi Gras, ending on February 21st. I stayed in an RV park just a few blocks from Bourbon Street. It was expensive - about $140 per night - buy well worth it. As close as it was to the French Quarter, however, I had a very scary experience walking over, because I had to walk adjacent to "the projects" on my way over. It's not often that I fear for my life...as I said, very scary. After that, I learned how to get to the Quarter without walking past that place.
The first night I was there, I went to check out one of the many, many parades that go on over the 12 days of Mardi Gras (there are probably at least 3 parades per day). Here are some of the pictures from my first parade:
The beads were flyin' off of these floats from every direction! You had to watch out...otherwise, you'd be smacked in the face with beads! A very fun experience.
Here's a shot of Bourbon Street during the chaos:
Really, it was very tame. No fights or really drunk people.
During my time there, I also went out to explore some of the devastation that still exists due to hurricane Katrina in '05. I explored what's called the Ninth Ward, apparently the hardest hit area in New Orleans. I will tell you, however, that I saw destruction many tens of miles in all directions from the Ninth Ward. The Ward is an area that suffered much flooding when the levees broke during the hurricane, and is 2 or 3 miles square. The whole place is a ghost town, but I did see some restoration work being done. All in all, quite a sad place:
These stoops are the only thing left of a house that once was...
I left New Orleans on Feb. 21st, and headed out across the great state of Texas...
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