Mardi Gras World

     On this chilly and gray day we considered our options for sightseeing.  The Saints had a home game today which means lots of traffic and extra party goers in the downtown bars.  We looked at the map and saw - Mardi Gras World.  A bright and happy place that is along the river.  We took a long way around drive to get there and our bonus was that we saw lots of beautiful old mansions along St. Charles Avenue.
     Blaine Kern Studios has been building parade floats for Mardi Gras since 1947.  The company makes paper mache' characters and other decorative items for parades and displays all over the world.  Many of them start with a styrofoam base that is covered with paper mache'.  The building is over a block long and filled with huge characters.  Mardi Gras is now ten days long and includes over 55 parades.  Each year a theme is chosen and the various Krewes decide on a design for their float.  Some of the floats carry up to 35 members of the Krewe.  The parades may go on for over six hours so the floats include a bathroom as well.  It was a fun back stage view of the preparations for this wild celebration.
   We had lunch at Mulates, a Cajun restaurant, and listened to some Louisiana Creole Cajun zydeco music while we ate gumbo and red beans and rice.  The gumbo and red beans came either in a cup or a bowl.  We chose a bowl and now have another whole meal to eat.  Wow! these were big portions, but just delicious.
    Feeling full, we drove to the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge to take a hike on the boardwalk that goes into the bayou.  I hoped for alligators, but apparently the large ones go into hibernation as the weather gets cooler.  We DID see a large flock of beautiful great white herons, a few great blue herons and some funny looking cattle egrets.  Fortunately no snakes or other poisonous creatures, although I have some seriously itchy bites on one foot from something that got to me yesterday.  Thank goodness for Benadryl.