New Orleans Mardi Gras - 2022

I love New Orleans after multiple trips to Jazz Fest and I’ve been always been curious about Mardi Gras, but thought I was too old to go now. Well, here’s the reality, I’ve realized I’m not getting any younger, so I decided to take the plunge. After Carnival in Trinidad, I became more curious about the full celebration in NOLA. I learned that Mardi Gras parades start marching on Epiphany (1/6) occur every weekend till Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday,) and low and behold, it’s mostly a family friendly event if one watches outside of the French Quarter. (Especially coming two weekends early, when there are more parades, but less tourists!) It’s like your local July 4th parade on steroids. There are tons of local high school marching bands, with lots of sequin covered girls stepping and performing color guard; plus groups of colorful adult dancers. Float after float roll by filled with themed costumed folks giving out beads and lots of other fun gifts. And it’s all surrounded by a sea of people in purple, green and yellow. Then Covid happened and the concept of Yardi Gras or Porch Floats appeared, so long walks through cute colorful New Orleans neighborhoods uncover houses decorated for the season. Add a stop or two to listen to jazz and a few seafood filled meals and it makes for a pretty amazing long weekend! It’s true what they say, You Only Live Once. #YOLO

Click HERE to see the full photo album from my trip.

Mardi Gras Parades

I enjoyed three days days of Mardi Gras parades put on by a bunch of different krewes with lots of different themes. Feathers, sequins, beads… music, dancing, revelry… costumes, marching bands, & horses… equaled so much fun for hours and hours each day. It wasn’t the crazy drunken thing I had heard about, but more of a wonderful chance to hang Uptown for a few days with NOLA folks in more like a local 4th of July style. I’m glad I picked a mellower weekend to experience this wonderful tradition, though I’m super curious about what it’s like down in New Orleans this weekend and on Fat Tuesday. There’s always next time…

New Orleans Yardi Gras 2022

I actually started thinking about going to New Orleans last year because of the COVID innovation of Yardi Gras or House Floats. When the celebration was cancelled in 2021, people instead decided to decorate their houses. I was intrigued, since walking around alone outside is a perfect COVID safe activity, and yet I didn’t pull the trigger and didn’t go. So after I decided to go to Mardi Gras this year, I was so happy when I found out that in 2022 over 1000 houses were decorated. Here are a few that I found on my walks. Of course the added bonus is that New Orleans has such beautiful architecture, so almost every house is a joy to look at.