We left Grand Isle and headed for New Orleans. We’ve been here several times before and wanted to experience something a little different. We decided on a behind the scenes tour on the making of the Mardi Gras floats. It was amazing!! After a really great movie our guide took us through a huge warehouse to see the process in action.
We learned how the floats were designed and saw real artists in the process of sculpting, applying the paper mache and painting.
It was overwhelming and a bit surreal to walk among these giant creations.
Did you know that Mardi Gras lasts for 2 weeks and there are 54 parades, each sponsored by a different krewe? A krewe is a non-profit social club that is responsible for their floats, swag they throw out, and all finances for the parade. It’s a year long endeavor. As soon as Mardi Gras season is over, they begin the planning for next year. Some of the krewes date as far back as the 1700 & 1800’s wow! Talk about tradition.
Mardi Gras World has several warehouses. We only toured two. One of the warehouses was a event place with an interesting history. It was originally a staging area for the gambling boats circa 1980’s. The owners screwed up and didn’t get a gambling license. This warehouse sat vacant for 30 years! Someone just bought it and one can now rent it out for events. It looked exactly like Disneyland at night or Pirates of the Caribbean. I asked, it cost $10,000 to rent out for the night. Mmmm, guess my next party is just going to have to be in our backyard.
We had planned on riding our bikes from Mardi Gras world to the French Quarter, but the rains came. What a great excuse to head to Central Grocery and get my favorite all time meal - a muffuletta. Seriously, best thing ever. Funny story. We bought the muffuletta and then decided to walk around while eating it. We were standing under a balcony watching the people go by when a very irate man comes flying out of a restaurant and yells at us. “Don’t you be eating that Central Grocery muffuletta\ in front of our place. Ours are better and the original!!” And he shoed us off. Okay, for the record the Central Grocery muffuletta is the original and the BEST. However, you wouldn’t know it by the competing signs.
We didnt’ let the rains stop us and decided to have a very romantic stroll through the French Quarter, drinking coffee, and avoiding the puddles.
Our home for the next 3 days is Fountainbleau State Park in Mandeville. It’s across Lake Pontchartrain. We took the world’s largest bridge (almost 24 miles) to another world. Once we got settled into our campsite we decided to explore the park on bikes. Fortunately, the sun was shining on this side of the lake. Fountainbleau State Park is gorgeous! It borders Lake Pontchartrain and is dotted with huge oak trees dripping in Spanish Moss. It houses an old sugar mill and has lots of incredible bike trails.
One of the reasons we chose this park for Memorial Day weekend was that the Tammany Trace rail trail runs right through it. This was named the 2017 #1 bike trail. It is 27.5 miles long and goes through woods, wetlands and villages. We rode over to the village of Mandeville. I am in love with this town! It’s reminds me of Charleston with the elegant mansions looking out at the seawall. There are lots of beautiful tree lined streets and cute little stores, pubs and breweries. Why do our bike rides always end up at drinking places? We found a cute beachside hide-away and passed the time with a mojito and pina colada.
On our drive up from Grand Isle we drove by several local fruit and fish stands. We stopped, sampled and decided on...alligator sausage. Guess what is on the menu tonight?
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