Easter Mardi Gras Parade

We took out the bike for a nice 20 mile ride to the zoo this morning before thunder storms are expected to hit the city.  We went through the Garden District and  marveled at the large houses with the historic streetcar in the grass median. 

Visiting the zoo, for those who know us, is one of those things we do when traveling.  We both like zoos and how they promote conservation and awareness of  the natural world.  They also tend to be off the beaten path and is where we feel more like locals.  Today is no different, we arrive to find families waiting in line, many with Easter bunny ears, excited to go in.  It is a fairly modern zoo, with an updated central American zone, complete with Mayan ruins in the landscape.

On the way there, we tried to find a quaint cafe for breakfast, but we did not take into account that most places were closed because it was Easter.  We had to settle on our emergency Kind bars in the bike bags.  Later, inside the Louisiana swamp exhibit, we did eat some surprisingly good red beans and rice and our first po-boys, this one was catfish and bacon.

Then it was back on the bike, through the outskirts of town with more humble residential areas mixed in with commercial and industrial.  We even had our first hill, an overpass over Interstate 10 coming into town next to the iconic Superdome.

We had to get back to watch the Easter Parade.  Not knowing what to expect, we were surprised to find out it was, what we can imagine, a very tamed down Mardi Gras event, complete with tons of beads and small gifts being thrown at you.  Siri said I acted like a small kid as I ran along with the passing floats asking to have trinkets thrown at me.  Once I had over a dozen beads, I decided to slow it down a bit.  There was something fun to have the interaction between the participants and the spectators. 

It looked like anyone was invited to be part of the parade.  Some were themed dance groups, like one seemed to be either Marilyn Monroe or Dolly Parton wannabees, and tehers had matching poodle skirts, and one some had butterfly wings.  Afterwards we came upon one Elvis group hanging out at the local bar.  Others were more traditional floats on trailers being killed by tractors.  It reminded me of when our family did a synchronized stroller “drool” team for our local Seafair parade.  We would have fit right in.  It was a fun, welcoming community event. 

As we made it back to our hotel I came upon a family from Spain that was headed out, a bit too late, for the parade.  Knowing that I didn’t really want to pack these beads home, I gave them all to the two young kids who were sooo excited to get real beads.  A much better use than in my closet when I get home. 🙂