It’s that time of year… Carnival has arrived!  I’m coming to you live and direct from Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  I can already check off one of my travel wish list items for the year.  2018 is off to a good start!  Parades, beads, king cakes and shrimp po’ boys- definitely my kinda party.  Mardi Gras isn’t until Tuesday, so part two of this post will be next week .  We’ve still got parades, parties and a food crawl planned for this week.  We haven’t quite been in town 48 hours, but we hit the ground running.

You Want Another Shot?

Before we hit our first parade yesterday, we decided to do a tour and tasting at Seven Three Distillery.  A relatively new distillery on North Claiborne Avenue, Seven Three is a nod to the diversity and culture of 73 distinct neighborhoods in New Orleans.

Our tour included some history of the city, specifically the neighborhood of Storyville, the red light and jazz district.  The tasting included shots of St. Roch spirits, starting with St. Roch vodka, and along the way, Gentilly Gin and the St. Roch cucumber vodka (which was my favorite).  Our host was more than happy to give shot refills during the tour.  You could easily get in a fair amount of trouble during this 45 minute tour.  You probably want to take a Lyft or a Uber, you may very well stumble out of Seven Three.  Especially if you try the moonshine.

If you do visit Seven Three Distillery, make a stop at St Roch Market for lunch afterwards.  A Southern food hall, you’ll have both awesome food selections and the option for more cocktails at the bar.  The bread on my Larry Bird sandwich at Good Bird was so fresh, I wanted to hug the man at the counter.  If you have a sweet tooth like I do, grab a cupcake or a tart from Bittersweet Confections.

Heads Up!

Yesterday late afternoon, we made our way to the Endymion parade.  One of the three Super Krewes, Endymion is the largest parade of Mardi Gras- with 37 floats and more that 3,000 riders.  We caught the parade as it rolled at Carrollton Avenue and Canal Street.  Rain or not, people were out and ready for the festivities- ponchos, umbrellas, costumes, BBQ grills, tents and ladders.  Ready to catch those beads!

And about those beads… keep your head up when the floats are passing.  Unless you want to get caught in the forehead with some beads coming in 50 miles an hour.   Those folks on the floats had some good strong heat on those pitching arms.  I wanted a catcher’s mitt a couple times.  Catching beads can hurt!  We caught the parade rolling at a good spot- it was still early on in the route so the breaks between floats weren’t too long and the crowds weren’t too thick.  The weather held up for the last float and we made it back inside before the sky opened up with impressive thunderstorms.

Today, we’re headed to a party Uptown on the parade route for the Krewe of Bacchus.  We’re just getting started, I’ll have all the highlights next week!

Anybody else been to Mardi Gras?  What’s your favorite thing to do?