Just a quick note to wish everyone a happy Mardi Gras Recovery day. My wife and kids and I had quite a lot of fun over the past few days. We saw 6 parades and caught about 10 million beads, many of which will soon be caught underfoot and lead to mass destruction. The picture below is from yesterday morning after the first parade, and around the fourth or fifth beer. Seriously though - Mardi Gras is big fun outside of New Orleans, and a heck of a lot more family friendly.

For folks who have sent me mail - it may take me a few days to catch up. I'll have the CFBL reports a bit later today as well.
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I will have to admit, you are much braver than me Ray. We missed all the parades here, but dealing with a 2 year-old at a parade is a nightmare. Maybe next year.
I agree with you Ray, I did Mardi Gras in New Orleans when I was 20 - it was not a bad option for a broke 20 year old college kid. At 33 I would not want to repeat that scene.
Fortunately my wife has family in Lafayette so we spent the weekend there - we both had to head back to the office this week so we missed the Monday night parades and Fat Tuesday, but enjoyed a ball on Friday night in the Cajundome (!) and a fun parade on Saturday. Definitely a classier affair than what I experienced "last time" and something I hope to repeat annually.
Also the King Cake tradition was a new one on me. In case you don't know King Cake is basically a giant donut with some kind of flavoring baked in. Every family has their personal favorite King Cake bakery, or makes their own at home. Inside of the King Cake are little miniature plastic babies, if you get the baby you have to buy the next cake .. this is similar to the French tradition of three Kings' day.
Love the onAir Bus tour shirt. :D