Sunday, March 17th – Monday, March 18th, 2013
We said our goodbyes to Pam and Robby and went back to “N’awlins” with Trevor’s parents. They splurged and got a room for the four of us at the Hotel Provincial in the French Quarter.
At one point, we passed a sign that said, “Jesus saves… cracked iPhones.” Trevor was thrilled since he shattered his in Mobile and he could finally get it replaced. Also, he looks remarkably like Jesus. We bought my Godzilla painting, headed back to the van to drop it off and to grab his phone, then returned to the shopping mall to get his screen fixed. We bought a bunch of beads in one of the shops as we were waiting and would realize how unnecessary this would be later on.
After his screen was fixed, we grabbed coffee at Envie, visited the Iron Rail Bookstore, then parked our butts along Decatur Street to wait for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It was looking to be a long wait, so we decided to head towards where the parade was set to start. This turned out to be a wise decision indeed as the parade was running on Southern time, not Yankee time.
The parade was a lot of fun! There were bagpipes and marching bands, and many beads and faux green flowers were thrown from people on floats, on foot, on bikes, motorcycles, tractors, and on unicorns.
Many old men kissed me on the cheek and one of them got a bit too frisky and planted a glowing shamrock on my boob. Some of the floats included bar tables and stools with port-o-pots on board. The gutter punks frolicked around, and one climbed up a pole and was quickly ordered by police to shimmy his way back down. Overall, the parade was a good time!
We took one last stroll through Bourbon Street and I gave most of my beads to an unsuspecting man walking nearby, who was thrilled to receive them.
Hats off to the post-parade cleaning crew! A couple hours afterwards, you would’ve never known it even happened!
It’s Monday which makes it Red Beans and Rice Day according to Robby. As advised, we searched for a place nearby to get some. After we ate and moseyed around the French Quarter a bit, we said goodbye to Trevor’s parents.
We had been to Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 several years back, so we decided to head to the Garden District see the mausoleums in Lafayette Cemetery before taking I-10 West out of New Orleans towards Texas.
We crossed the Mississippi River for the first time which was much larger than I imagined with massive debris floating within it. We eventually made our way out of Louisiana and into Texas.
Louisiana has so much more to offer than just New Orleans, but the South is not too far out of the way to explore another day. We attempted to visit the Texas Welcome Center, but it was closed, and decided to get a room at the Best Western in Vidor, TX to collect our thoughts and decide on the next route.
Jump Back to Part 05: Battleships, Godzilla & Snoochie Boochies
Jump Ahead to Part 07: Houston, We Have A Problem
OR
Start Over at Part 01: The Blue Bubble, Freebies & A Rude Awakening
Stubbs Rambles On 
It seems like you had lots of fun! That parade seems so awesome. Is that an annual event?
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Hey! Sorry for the delayed response. I just returned home from northern Maine where I didn’t have WiFi connection. It was a lot of fun and is an annual event in New Orleans. Highly recommend it! It’s likely less intense than their Mardi Gras for those who want the parade experience without the massive crowds. Thanks for reading! 🙂
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