February 28, 2006

February 28, 2006

Mardi Gras in Opelousas and Eunice, Louisiana

YEAR 2 DAY 256

 

HAPPY MARDI GRAS

 

Today's Mardi Gras "throws" caught ;

1 cold beer

2 plastic footballs

1 Mardi Gras frisbee

1 beer cup ( advertising Dr. Thibodeaux, one of the half dozen or so surnames covering about 80% of Louisiana's population )

1 key fob ( from Joe's Sandwich Shop in Opelousas )

2 insulated bottle snugglies

3 doubloons

many wrapped candies, Tootsie Rolls, gum balls, jaw breakers

Joanne's beads caught ; 33 strands

Dan's beads caught ; 113 strands

 

Today was sunny and warm. A great day to be out celebrating Mardi Gras in Louisiana.

Joanne wanted to experience a small town Mardi Gras, so this morning we headed for Opelousas, about 25 miles north of Lafayette. As we drove through Lafayette, we got stuck in a traffic jam caused by one of today's many Mardi Gras parades. We sat in one spot, in traffic gridlock, for over half an hour, waiting for a parade to pass by. We finally got to Opelousas just in time for the parade, sponsored by the Half Fast Krewe Of Frank's ( a liquor store in town ). I had to explain "Half Fast" to Joanne. HA HA HA ! It was a great parade. Much different than the sophisticated, big city parades in Lafayette.

After the parade, we wandered around Opelousas for awhile, sightseeing in a typical little Louisiana town. We went for lunch to the Palace Café . Great meal..  Superb service by an elderly woman who was the only waitress in a restaurant with about 25 tables, all filled. Somebody should videotape her and sell it as a training aid for customer service workers. After lunch we drove around the town awhile, doing a bit more sightseeing.

We decided to drive to Eunice, about 25 miles west of Opelousas, to partake of their street festival, parade, and Courir de Mardi Gras. What a great decision that turned out to be. We got to Eunice, found a place to park, and started to wander around the downtown area, filled with thousands of people, young and old and everything in between. We walked by all the street vendors, mostly selling food. The Mardi Gras souvenirs were mostly sold out. We sampled some cracklins / gratons, deep fried chunks of pork skin with attached fat < shudder >. Sorry, Mr. Colon ... it was just a littlepiece ... and I'll never do it again. As we walked by these booths with the stench of pork skin frying in grease, the locals were all inhaling and smiling. I guess it's an acquired taste ... and smell. We went into a couple of stores selling Zydeco music, and Mardi Gras costumes. Great costumes in the crowd. The small town people really get into Mardi Gras in a big way. Finally the big parade started. It was different than the other parades we saw because it was a combination of parade floats, and Courir "runners", who don't actually run, they ride horses. There were 67 floats, and hundreds of "runners" on horseback who had been out on the Courir for about 8 hours, collecting the fixings for a communal gumbo dinner from their neighbours. I think they did a lot more beer drinking than they did collecting food. Most of them were so drunk, they could barely sit up on their horses. I guess 8 hours of riding around the countryside, in full Mardi Gras costume, including face mask, drinking beer in the hot sun, will do that to you. Many of them were severely sun burned as well. It's Mardi Gras ... laissez les bons temps rouler !

After the parade / Courir was finished, we wandered around town, buying some Zydeco CD's and a Mardi Gras shirt for me. One of the food booths was selling fresh, boiled crawfish. Three pounds for $11.00. It seems to take three pounds of boiled crawfish to make a decent meal, although I did see many families sharing a 3 pound batch. I asked a big, young black man ( football version ) to show me how to eat boiled crawfish. He showed me, then offered to let me try. Okay ... sure ... when in Rome ... ! I grabbed the head with my right hand, tail with my left, twisted and yanked. Separated just like it was supposed to. I sucked out the head. Oh ! Another acquired taste, I guess. I tried to pull the meat out of the tail, but I sort of mooshed it up. I tried another one. Didn't suck the head the second time. Once was enough, thanks. Mooshed up the meat in the tail again. Oh, well. Thanks, Bubba ! We wandered around a bit more, listening to the Cajun band playing on the main stage in the town square. We reluctantly left shortly after 6:00 P.M for the one hour drive back to Lafayette. Our feet were sore, and we were tired and hungry.

Back at the trailer at Maxie's Campground, we took care of the animals, then while Joanne prepared supper, I counted today's bead "throws" caught. HA HA HA HA HA ! What a couple of goof heads. Almost another 150 more strands of beads. It's contagious, and hard to stop, when at the parades. HA HA HA HA HA ! We watched the premiere episode of Amazing Race, then I worked on today's accounting and journal entry. I got online, using Wi-Fi, to send and retrieve e-mail, and update my blog, before we leave here tomorrow.

What a great time we've had here celebrating Mardi Gras over the last 5 days.

Ooops ... Joanne just called me to the bedroom to put some Aloe Vera gel on her sun burned neck. Fortunately, my neck isn't sun burned. I had so many strands of beads around my neck there was no exposed skin. HA HA HA HA HA !

DSK