Time for a late, but still great Mardi Gras update!!!
Now I know I'm a week late to the game on this one. I came back late Monday night and have been slammed with school, work, and exhaustion ever since, buuuut that being said, i had one of the best weekends of my life in New Orleans and I'm ready to share!!
This idea started last year this time, when Maddie Ham and Emily Bryars (two of my best friends) and I started dreaming about how fun it would be to do Mardi gras together in New Orleans. Maddie's older sister, Emily Ham, lives in NoLa, and attends Tulane University, and is a senior this year, meannig it was our last year with a free place to stay. So a few months ago, we decided to just go for it, bought the obscenely priced tickets, and that's how this became a reality!
Emily Maddie's sister, whom I will refer to as Emmy for confusion's sake, lives just a block from Tulane's campus in a beautiful apartment, so we all stayed there for free, which was nothing short of a miracle honestly (thanks again em!)
Emily Maddie's sister, whom I will refer to as Emmy for confusion's sake, lives just a block from Tulane's campus in a beautiful apartment, so we all stayed there for free, which was nothing short of a miracle honestly (thanks again em!)
Thursday morning my two best friends and I set on our separate journeys to the Big Easy - Emily flying from Tucson, Maddie driving down from Tuscaloosa with her roommate (also named Emily), and me flying from sfo. My journey started a little bumpy, with a cracked plane windshield that delayed my flight so much I would have missed my connection. After pleading with customer service reps and almost losing it in the airport, which resulted in my mom getting on the phone to work a little magic, viola! I was rerouted through LAX. Armed with a gluten free cookie to brighten my mood, I cruised through the two flights and ended up in New Orleans about 11pm, reunited with my ladies and we headed out for the night.
There is an amazing college spot called The Boot that is basically on Tulane's campus, just a ten minute walk from the apartment. Now if you are of college age and find yourself in New Orleans, do yourself a favor and visit this bar! It is open till 6 am and is crawling with every cute Southern boy you could ever imagine. Fun fact, it also has an adjoined pizza joint/grill if you get the munchies. Since it's open every night, is 18+ and has no cover fee, on a given night you'll probably find half of Tulane's student body inside. It's really everything you could want in a good college bar - the bartenders are quick, the DJ is good, and the drinks are cheap. We ended up here every night, because we couldn't just resist the atmosphere!
There is an amazing college spot called The Boot that is basically on Tulane's campus, just a ten minute walk from the apartment. Now if you are of college age and find yourself in New Orleans, do yourself a favor and visit this bar! It is open till 6 am and is crawling with every cute Southern boy you could ever imagine. Fun fact, it also has an adjoined pizza joint/grill if you get the munchies. Since it's open every night, is 18+ and has no cover fee, on a given night you'll probably find half of Tulane's student body inside. It's really everything you could want in a good college bar - the bartenders are quick, the DJ is good, and the drinks are cheap. We ended up here every night, because we couldn't just resist the atmosphere!
Friday we spent the first half of the day lazing about relaxing, munching, just happy to be together! In the afternoon we headed to St. Charles Ave to catch the Krewe of Hermes Parade, my first Mardi Gras experience!! Maddie and Emily have both been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans multiple times, so I was in very good hands in terms of knowledge about where to go and what to do to have the most fun! Now i will be the first to say I love free things. And these parades are literally all about that! People create these beautiful floats, usually themed to the parade, and they dress up and throw free things (beads, koozies, light up stuff, ect.) at you!! What could be better?? And the atmosphere is electric! The only way to really describe it is a huge party! There's music and dancing in the streets, it's fun for all ages - everyone from toddlers to frat guys to grandparents mingles in the crowds. We ended up catching a bit of Krewe d'Etat as well before calling it a day to get some street car corn dogs and fries. We ended Friday with another ridiculously fun night at The Boot!
Saturday was our biggest day. We woke up early, got dressed, and hit the day parades. Emily's family was in town, so we got to watch with them, which was really nice! We saw Krewe of Iris and part of Krewe of Tucks. This parade was hilarious because it's toilet themed and they were throwing plastic plungers and little toilets that squirt water (which I am now a proud owner of). Then we went, by recommendation of Emily's dad, a former local to Mahoney's Po' Boy Restaurant get some real southern cooking. It was a delicious feast of Po'boy sandwiches, red beans and rice and poutine!
Now here's a little advice: the only thing harder than getting downtown is getting out of downtown. Uber was so backed up we couldn't get a car even with the crazy surge pricing. We ended up waiting on several corners trying (and failing) to flag cabs before Maddie finally got through to uber. After a dinner of taqitos we were back in action for our last night together at the Boot!!
Sunday morning Emily and Maddie left, and I spent the day with Emmy and her two friends who were in town, Cara and Emily M. We went for bagels, refueled, then Cara and I walked to the French quarter AGAIN. See you'd think I'd have better sense than to do this two days in a row, but apparently that's not so. We finally ended up in Jackson Square and Cara got bengiets at Cafe du Monde, which is an absolute must for any New Orleans trip. Then we cabbed back, ordered pizza and watched my friends ham it up in the crowd for the 50 Superbowl halftime show!
All in all it was an amazing, exhausting weekend! Before I went, people told me, "you only Mardi once," and I thought, "no way! I'll want to go back next year!". Well let me tell you, I think it might be a few years before I brave Mardi Gras in the Big Easy again, but I am already looking forward to it!
