We decided start this week with more swamp themed fun so after John got off work, we loaded up Miss Harley and drove about 6 miles down Chef Menteur Highway to Bayou Sauvage Wildlife Rescue. We took a stroll on the 1/2 Mile Boardwalk Trail, a raised boardwalk that winds its way along the edge of the swamp. We had been hoping to see some wild boar but unfortunately, we didn’t see any wildlife. It was still a lovely walk with some nice scenery in gorgeous weather (about 65 degrees) and Harley can now say that she has pooped in a swamp! I think a large part of her travel goals involve pooping in different locations and rolling in the dirt in every state.
When we came home, we found that one of our neighbors had moved out. As mentioned in previous posts, the sites at Jude Travel Park are only slightly wider than the RVs themselves and we often didn’t have room to do any more than walk around the outside of our house. With this open space next to us, we finally had the room to get out the gas firepit that John had gotten for me the week before.
Fun fact: I love camping and I love our traveling lifestyle but smoke from campfires makes me unable to breathe. Another fun fact: I like breathing. We can’t do much about people around us but having the gas firepit makes it much more enjoyable for me to sit out around the fire, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows. It’s also a great investment for us because 1) firewood can get expensive and 2) firewood shouldn’t be transported from one campground to the next to prevent the spread of invasive pests and such. We also don’t have to wait for the fire to burn out at night. If we get tired and want to go inside or if something comes up and we want to leave – we just turn off the fire pit! We spent a quiet evening at home cooking dinner on the fire and relaxing.
Being on the move constantly means that we don’t often get mail. We have a mailing address in Florida that receives our mail and sends us scans of the outside. We can tell them to either discard it or we can have anything we want to keep bundled up and mailed to a location of our choosing- usually John’s Mom’s house. She hangs onto things and we pick up stuff from her in person if we pass through town or she can mail everything to us when we get to someplace we are able to get mail. Being in New Orleans for two months gave us a chance to get some things sent to us so we got a package from John’s best friend and her wife (some super cute socks) and we got a few Christmas gifts from John’s Mom.
On Saturday, we were finally feeling well enough to return to Destrehan Plantation for a tour. Destrehan Plantation is the third oldest building in New Orleans- being beaten out by a brothel and a convent ironically enough. This home was constructed in 1787 by 8 slaves and took three years to build- they had to make EVERYTHING themselves- the bricks are made from mud from the river, beams are made of cypress, etc. The entire house was built using very few nails- mortise and tenon joints were used to join the beams together. The house uses a mud/plaster as insulation. The property was full of beautiful oak trees and I even got to make friends with a cat that lives there. It was a truly beautiful home but the dark history of slavery (including a slave revolt that took place at this very plantation) made it a very somber visit.
We needed some levity in our lives after the plantation visit so, even though it was cold and rainy, we drove over to Metairie in the evening for the Mad Hatter’s Parade. This parade, being outside of the French Quarter, was able to have larger and more elaborate floats. This parade was very family friendly and was full of marching bands and baton twirlers from many local high schools, local dance squads, and even a dentist’s office throwing out little tubes of toothpaste and toothbrushes in addition to Mardi Gras beads. This parade taught us about Mardi Gras injuries – some of the beads that they throw are HEAVY and, especially when they are slippery from the rain and your fingers are super cold, they can quite painful to catch. They can be even more painful if you don’t catch them and they hit you in the face or other parts of your body. We ended up bringing home a ton of beads, some snacks items, a t-shirt, and a few cool hats. We also met some really nice people who gave us some suggestions on other things to do while we were in town and provided us with tips on celebrating Mardi Gras.
We also learned from this parade that when you have a ton of double and triple decker floats and large groups of teenagers walking a long distance, delays are bound to happen. People fall off of floats. Floats break down. Band and dance squad performers pass out. While our first parade lasted maybe an hour and a half – this parade lasted about 4 hours with significant periods of time where floats or groups were just stuck in front of us for long times. This is where you really learn about community. Riders on floats get bored and start talking to your or playing games. You can really spend time badgering them into throwing you a ton of swag. These are the fun delays. There are also times when high school groups get stuck in front of you and have to stand there in the rain and cold. One girl in one of the bands that got stalled in front of us was so cold that we got my winter coat from the car and let her wear it until they got moving again. People in the crowd also lent handwarmers and shared snacks with the stranded parade members until things got flowing again.
In addition to the beads and other fun souvenirs, I also brought home something I didn’t want – a compressed nerve in my back. For years, when I stand or walk for too long (usually about 30-45 minutes) I get a tingly feeling down my left thigh. If I don’t sit down and rest, my entire upper leg becomes numb. It isn’t really painful and usually I just sit down for a few minutes and the feeling improves and I can get up and go on about my business until it happens again. We had forgotten to put our lawn chairs in the car this time and the ground was wet from the rain so I opted to stand the entire 4 hours. I expected the feeling to come back once we got back to the car at the end of the night. It did not. In fact, I didn’t regain feeling again for 4 days and when I did- OH BOY. But more on that in next week’s post.
On Sunday, we were faced with a dilemma. Usually, we plan our day with breaks to come home and put Harley out or we do things that are short and can be done start-to-finish in about 6-7 hours (Harley’s limit for bathroom breaks). On this day, we wanted to go to three separate Mardi Gras Parades. The upside was that they all had the same route and would proceed one after the other. The downside was that, due to road closures for the parade route, we wouldn’t be able to leave to go put Harley out. We made the decision to bring her with us and hope for the best.
We loaded up the car with lawn chairs (we learned our lesson from standing all night the night before) and a few bottles of water and headed downtown. John wore jeans and a t-shirt but I dressed for the occasion in a green shirt, black jeans, a black leather vest, a green feathered headband, and my long renaissance fair cloak. Harley was also looking festive in a purple bandana. We paid a little more for parking then we would have liked but the parking lot was right along the parade route so we were able to be in sight of the car the entire time and we had a place we could retreat to if Harley needed a break or if we needed to charge our phones for a bit.
While we thought that we had a good strategy, we had a lot to learn about doing Mardi Gras right. People around us arrived with grills, tents, sound systems, projector televisions and coolers full of provisions. One truck even pulled in with their own private port-a-potty in the back! Next to us a huge group spent the day grilling, playing music and playing games while watching the parades. Once it got dark, they even projected the Super Bowl onto the wall of a nearby building so that they could still watch the game without missing the parades.
Harley isn’t the greatest with other dogs and, while she loves people, we didn’t know how she would do in a big crowd. Thankfully, we were the only ones there with a dog for the most part (occasionally someone would walk through with another dog but they didn’t sit along the route anywhere near us). I got a little nervous when a police officer came over before the parade but he just wanted to tell her how pretty she was and give her belly rubs.
First up was the Mystic Krewe of Femme Fatale. This all female krewe put on a good parade and we really enjoyed them. We didn’t get a ton of swag from them but they gave a lot of stuff to the kids along the route and they had a ton of bands and dance groups that were super entertaining.
Next was the Krewe of Carrollton. This was the area that we had fallen in love with during our first week in town and the krewe was largely made up of businesses and residents from the area. They mostly all wore costumes that covered their faces but the floats were pretty cool. They also had some amazing dance groups – one of all older women called the Milkshakers and one of some very enthusiastic and flammbouyant men called the Swampers. They were having an excellent time and were so fun to watch.
Finally, we got to the biggest parade of the day and the one we had been most looking forward to – The Krewe of King Arthur. This krewe was well organized and they all had enormous floats – not only were they two or three levels high but they also had multiple linked together in a row! They also had a group of Dolly Parton’s and a group of Elvis impersonators! While we LOVED all of the parades we attended, I think this one was the favorite for both of us.
The super coolest thing about the Krewe of King Arthur is that they are one of the krewes with pretty well known custom throws. Basically, each parade is hosted by a different group called a krewe. Each krewe has their own general theme. All of the krewes throw out things like candy, snacks, beads, toys and trinkets. Some of the krewes have custom items, though. The Krewe of Muses gives out hand decorated high-heeled shoes and the Krewe of Zulu has hand painted coconuts. For the Krewe of King Arthur the item is a hand decorated chalice – a Grail.
Unlike the other things that they give out, the special throws are few and far between and are highly coveted keepsakes. Each krewe member spends the entire year decorating and working on these custom throws and usually only have one or two to give out during the entire length of the parade. Because of this, they usually only give them to a person who really stands out to them along the route.
By this time, I was tired. My leg was still numb from the night before and I wasn’t feeling too well. (Something you need to know about me is that I made poor choices a lot. I have some stomach issues and if we are going to be somewhere without easy access to restrooms I usually won’t eat or drink. This is NOT a great strategy at an all day 12 hour Mardi Gras parade where you are sitting in the sun for most of the time).We had even let a band member sit in our chairs and cool down at one point, providing them with some of our bottled water until they could get up and get moving again but I still hadn’t learned my lesson. I had shed my headband, cloak, and vest and was sitting in the lawn chair back on the sidewalk with Harley. John decided the best course of action was to put on my costume (see his photo in the collage above) and hang out in the street right up against the floats where he could make creepy eye contact and stare down the riders on the floats, cajoling them into giving him things. His strategy worked though – we came home with not just one but FIVE of the custom grails along with multiple shopping bags worth of other swag.
I went home with severe dehydration, a splitting headache, a horrible sunburn and then proceeded to lay on the couch vomiting between bites of a Wendy’s cheeseburger and fries for a few hours before finally passing out.
And how did Harley do? She spent her day lounging on the sidewalk or in the lawn chairs that we brought and managed to score several stuffed toys to chew on and a new leash -compliments of a lovely gay couple on one of the King Arthur floats who absolutely fell in love with her during a period that they stalled out in front of us.
With all that happened, though, I think the most valuable thing we brought home was the knowledge that Harley LOVES marching bands but absolutely DESPISES horses. F*** those guys.
