We arrived in New Orleans expecting a relatively low key, fun time. A break from the intensity of Mississippi. But of course in Nola relaxing means an unrelenting stream of food, drinks, & parties.
Highlights included:
An amazing RV spot that was actually IN town.
Terrific public art just about everywhere we turned.
A fabulous time with the Krewe of Pontchartrain courtesy of our friends Dan & Cynthia . . . including a last minute invitation to walk in the 2nd line and ride on the float!
Watching the Krewe of Barkus (the dog parade)
An afternoon of fun beard shaving shenanigans.
In most large cities there just isn't a spot for an RV within 30-60 minutes of town, but in Nola there was a lovely place just a short Uber ride from the French Quarter: the New Orleans RV resort & marina on a canal just off of Lake Pontchartrain. To be fair, there was actually one EVEN closer to town, but it looked pretty sketchy. This one had nice full time residents living in semi-unusual situations -- including our next door neighbor, the Tulane ROTC coordinator -- and, though it was situated next to a pretty dilapidated old industrial park, the place had a sweet little marina and fabulous sunsets.
Before Cynthia and Dan got to town, we got a chance to putter around on our own. First, was some scheduled maintenance at the local Mercedes dealer (ouch, never do that again!). Then we got to be tourists. The food (thanks to Cynthia, Glen, Stu & Alison for all their suggestions) was insane, especially joan's fried kale sandwich and my yogurt/granola/carrot puree breakfast. But we also stumbled on a Garden District tour that we got to join. It was a simple history and architecture walk, but it was a beautiful, warm day and our guide was just kooky enough to be hilarious. We even downloaded the public transit app and figured out how to bus our way around town.
But of course, in New Orleans jazz takes center stage. We hit up the New Orleans Jazz Museum and got rewarded by a free concert! The Molly Reeves Quartet played for an hour, including a few old standards like Count Basie's One O'clock Jump as well as a few new ones we'd never heard. Of course we went home and started creating a jazz playlist to listen to on Spotify.
But in addition to the music, we were enthralled by the public art in New Orleans. It was everywhere and on everything -- from three story murals, to public statues, to painted warehouses and corner utility boxes.
Why can't we have more of this in Menlo Park??
We have to point to two specific things in all of these. First, the mural of a young girl on the big, yellow warehouse is approximately the birthplace of Homer Plessy (of Plessy v. Ferguson). It's an amazing piece of art and is just a couple blocks from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts high school. There are a number of great murals in the area and we really hope the students are responsible for it all . . . and that they keep going!
Secondly, the chair in the last picture above was in the window of a gallery we passed by. So, it's not technically public art, but the little white sign on the chair made us laugh.
By then, Cynthia and Dan and their family were in town and it was time for the Krewe of Pontchartrain festivities to start. First there was a crawfish boil dinner. 175 pounds of live crawfish boiled to death, strewn on a table, and then ripped, sucked, and plucked. I'm not sure we're converted crawfish lovers, but it was quite an experience.
The crawfish party though was a hoot. We met all kinds of wonderful people. Bob and Cathy were Carnival/Mardi Gras aficionados who come from Chicago every year for 4-5 weeks to see it all. They kindly volunteered to make sure to take pictures of us on the float as we passed by their customary viewing spot on St. Charles Street. There was also a local high school teacher that Randy bonded with, a bartender who drinks nothing by straight Frangelico, and, most interestingly, Cory Duplechin. He's a bass player for the Jazz guitarist Tab Benoit and Cory got his son through his senior year of high school during covid by promising to FINALLY get his own high school diploma at the same time. (see the news story here). Oh, and Cory's also had gastric bypass surgery and has dropped about 100 pounds. There's a LOT going on in his life (he's also started teaching music, which he says he likes even more than playing live). He's kind of my new hero, so I threw in a few pictures of him off the web.
Then it was finally time for our New Orleans baptism -- walking in a second line. Randy shaved the beard a little (FINALLY!) and we dressed to the nines. We followed a band down Bourbon Street for several blocks (it's really not that long), throwing beads and dancing. Then the krewe has an after party upstairs at a bar where we can then throw MORE beads down at people on the street. This was when it first dawned on us how MUCH people seem to crave cheap plastic beads. What's the deal there??
Oh, and this is also where most people think of bar chested women soliciting those beads. However, maybe that urban legend is a bit overblown? . . . o r maybe it was just the light drizzle that was falling that afternoon, but the only bare chest we saw was that big, ole bearded guy. (eww?). But BOY was it a fun day! Speaking of things we wish we could see more of around Menlo Park, how about that purple hair on Joan and Cynthia and those sideburns on Randy !?!?
After the second line march, the next day is all about the parade. Our krewe had about 17 different floats in its parade plus a whole lot of bands and other marchers. Our consensus favorite was the Lounging Ladies of Leisure who were gals that are paraplegics in power chairs dressed up to look like lounge chairs. It was SO perfectly Mardi Gras! The float we rode with Cynthia and Dan and family was a Harry Potter theme, so we got all dressed up in Gryffindor gowns. Yet again, the passion for cheap plastic beads is absolutely insatiable in Nola and I think we each threw several HUNDRED pounds of beads during our ~3 hrs on the float.
The whole parade experience was truly memorable, but, really, the best Journeys-with-Joan moment had to be this one.
The last parade of the weekend for us was the Krewe of Barkus (kinda not really a crew, but really a great dog parade). We think the theme for them was Top Gun. However, really, who cares? The dogs and their owners looked amazing . . . and the sun had finally come out!
Last, but not least . . . ok, well, maybe also least . . . it was fun to finally shave off ALL of that beard hair that Randy had been growing for Mardi Gras.
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