My Nightmare Mardi Gras (A Long Rant)

thats no good - i was looking forward to hearing some awesome feedback from you after the first thread. Not sure if it was mostly the spot you ended up (and some bad luck) or what.... ive never done thursday on napoleon so i dont know if thats always a tough spot - I did notice the crowd was pretty heavy for muses (even for them) where i was on st charles, but i didnt have any trouble with the folks around me. might have been a situation where being a bit more mobile or flexible to walk a few blocks over mightve helped. ive been to parades where i was next to trashy drunks and hated it, and then 30 yards down the street had a fantastic time. the crowds are definitely trending bigger and bigger for muses, so i go not expecting all the throws, but typically a cute kid with a sign will get you some stuff. one thing ive realized from riding is that the crowd can go fast though, and even if they see the sign and kid, sometimes you cant get to a good throw in time to get it to them - friends normally have to chase the float a bit to make sure they get something from me. might be a situation where its not for you guys, or maybe one where you learn a few lessons and it kicks butt for you next year.

the ticket just sucks. i hate that the city beats up on people like that. dont blame you one bit for being frustrated. sure its a ticket, and a valid one, so you can only be so mad at them, but its frustrating none the less.



as to the friday night.... i know its not what you want to hear, but thats kind of the luck of the draw sometimes. once the parades are going and streets are blocked, a hotel front desk or phone operator wont have an answer for what is open, when streets will close or how to get to the actual hotel..... its at the whim of the nopd officers and can change year to year, or night to night. gotta get downtown early if you want to be driving. at best they are dealing with the same officers that you saw and... sadly... they can underwhelm. I try to chalk it up as most are good and some of the bad (especially in the quarter) have probably been in the crowd dealing with some of the worst people mardi gras has to offer for days (or in this case weeks with super bowl and parades before)... its no excuse but... its the reality of the situation.

if you decide to give it another shot - hopefully you will be armed with a few lessons learned and got some bad luck out of the way.... and you will get more of the good that mardi gras has to offer. so far (knock on wood) i havent had any of those nightmare experiences this year and ive been out to just about everything.