Why The Big Easy Is A Year-Round Party
It’s Mardi Gras time in New Orleans and even tho I’m not there for it, in a kind of strange, New Orleans way, I was just there for it.
The time was early September and the Zydeo music was coming out of beads shops in the French Quarter, Bourbon Street was packed with people – many drinking “Big Ass Beers” – beads were being thrown off balconies and the bars were cranking out cover rock cover tunes that spilled out into the street.
There was even a parade.
The latter was an unorganized band of people marching to the Superdome for the first New Orleans Saints game of the year (which the Saints lost, by the way) but the spirit was clear: New Orleans is Mardi Gras 365 days a year.
No matter when you go to the Big Easy, it’s easy to have that laissez le bon temps roule feeling. The good times are always rolling in New Orleans, and everyday seems like it’s Fat Tuesday.
I was there with a Cajun local, from just down the bayou in Lafayette, Louisiana. And this girl took me by the hand like it was Mardi Gras, starting me out with drinking beers as if they were on assembly line at a bar in the warehouse district and eventually winding up getting me blasted on Hand Grenades at the Tropical Isle.
She actually outdrank me, that danged Cajun girl.
Without such a glamorous host, you’ve you have to create your own Mardi Gras. And in New Orleans that is no problem. Just walk through the French Quarter, get a “drink to go” from a window, then another window and another and before you know it, it’s 5 o’clock and the 3-for-1 drinks kick in on Bourbon Street.
Just watch out for those hot shots girls!
Of course, New Orleans is more than just drinking. There’s the food – oh my the food and don’t concern yourself with where to go, any place is great – and the culture, which is all around you all the time.
So no matter when you go to the Big Easy, it’s always a big time. Even when it’s not Mardi Gras, tho is really is in your state of mind.
Cheers!
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