Now there's something you don't see every day!

December 3, 2016.

Saturday .... in the park ....

                               

Welcome To The Big Easy! 

                                            



               

Street Psychic's Bike:

   

                                                                                             

Street statue dude:

                                                             

Saturday .... in the park ....

                        

#neworleansfunstuff, #nola, #greatdanedogs,

New Orleans Carriages and Mules

       

December, 2016.

                               

Who wouldn't enjoy a carriage ride around new Orleans?
Being nosey curious by nature, I had to investigate.      

The clip clop sound of hooves is audible everywhere, 20 carriages are constantly rolling through the French Quarter and area. All are pulled by mules.  Which makes perfect sense because mules are strong, intelligent, hard working creatures.  Our friends have one, his name is Josh and he's the sweetest guy ever.

We had conversations with two of the drivers.  One told us there's a Mule Farm less than 20 minutes from the city where all the carriage animals reside.  Four carriage companies operate the tourist-popular business.  

                                    

           Resting.  

        

There are strict rules governing the carriage business.  All animals must weigh in at 1,000 lbs or more.  Doug and I were really impressed at the physical condition of the mules (not like we're experts but we know a little bit).  They are shiny, nicely groomed and clearly well fed.  

                       

The carriages can only operate for 6 hours a day in the summertime, 7 hours in the cooler months.  A lot of that time is spent standing, waiting in line for the next tour.

Old stone watering troughs are available to keep them hydrated.

The mules were friendly when petted, but it's obvious they have somewhat checked out emotionally.  They're on auto-pilot.

I'm not a fan of carriage rides, personally.  (Yeh, you were waiting for that).  

#neworleansmulescarriages, #joshthemule, 

The Makers of Mardi Gras

November 29, 2016.

                        

                                                            

There is a magical corner in the city of New Orleans, on the banks of the Mississippi, where fantasies come to life.  Aw, come on, get yer mind out of the gutter!  I'm not talking about that!

As you probably already know, Mardi Gras is a huge piece of New Orleans history.  At Blaine Kern's Marsi Gras World the props and floats for the annual Mardi Gras Parade are created. 

                            

We hopped off the tour bus (we have a three day pass so we're hopping a lot) and took the guided tour through the open-to-the-public-warehouse that stores and builds the statues and floats. There were only four of us on the tour.  It was awesome.  We watched a movie explaining the history of Mardi Gras, snacked on King Cake (another New Orleans carbo-loaded tasty tradition) and started our tour:

                        

The guide was exhuberant and extremely informative.  She led us through the ginormous building and we were able to get up close and personal with the floats and props.

                       

                                
                
                

It all begins with a plan:

                     

Next, the float adornments are carved from sheets of layers of styrofoam, glued together, covered with papier mache (a few are coated with fiberglass), then sanded smooth and painted.  This is a papier mache finish awaiting the painting process (Iiiii know!): 

                

                                 

                                                

Blaine Kern's family has been in the business since 1947 and they occupy 15 warehouses in all; the others provide year-round storage for the massive floats and multitudes of statues and props.
  
                                                

The guide informed us that 60 employees put everything together and once the bases are formed, 20 people "finish" the statues and floats.  Production begins immediately after the Mardi Gras Parade and it takes a whole year to rebuild, recreate and repurpose the props and floats. 

The annual theme is voted for by a committee.  Floats are only permitted to utilize the same theme for two years.  Then the float must be transformed.

.                                     

Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World produces statues and props for many international customers, including international hotels, casinos and other major tourist attractions worldwide.

They also repair pieces that get beaten up by weather/too many flying beads.  He's here to have his broken arm repaired.

Parades can be a bitch.

He still creeps me out.

Yup, they're all here.

Feeling old yet?

My personal fave, it reminds me of when Emma and I used to compete in horsey costume contests at horse shows.:

                               

                               

This is how the original molds for the props were created, piece by piece, to create incomparable magic .... for one day each year:

                    

It was a fascinating experience to see the construction of the real Mardi Gras and its making.

                          


                    

Yes, I confess, I made Doug stand there to show ya'll how big these structures are.  You're Welcome.  

Sorry, Doug.

After our tour, we met The Mighty Mississippi!

                             

New Orleans 101 ~ Getting to know The Big Easy.

November 29, 2016.

Phew!  I have a lot to catch up on!  

                        

This is a great city.  It's gonna take me a few blogs to cover everything we saw in 4 day visits this past week!  I can only compare it to an adult version of Toys 'R' Us as seen through the eyes of a two year-old.  Stimulation Overload.  Gotta love it.  

The armload of tourist literature I'd gathered at the Welcome Center helped us make a plan.  Yesterday, within an hour of our arrival, we went for a long walk with Zu, Doug rented a car (I left my car in Asheville) and we ran errands.  The rental company won't allow dogs in cars, so that's a problem.  Since we didn't have an option, we decided to make short trips into New Orleans each day so as not to abandon Zu for too long.  She doesn't seem to mind, she has her beauty sleep to catch up on.  We would just prefer to be with her, keep our whole "pack" together. 

It's warm here, with rustling palm trees and scurrying camera-shy salamanders of all colors and sizes.  No visible 'gators so far.    

This sunny morning we set out for New Orleans, a half hour drive from Pinecrest RV Park. We turned on the news when we arrived and heard there was a tornado warning not far from us. Yesterday there was a tornado watch in the same area, thankfully it blew itself out, it was just really blustery.  I heard that if the sky turns turquoise you're screwed that's your cue to take cover.

                  
No worries, we seem to continue to dodge the bullet when it comes to the weather.  Thank you, whoever is up there watching over us.  

It's a straight drive into the city and not a lot of traffic after rush hour (off-season).  We hopped on the double-decker bus tour (hop on, hop off) and hopped to Cafe du Monde for beignets and a cafe au lait each (a New Orleans tradition).  A French-style donut, they're delicious but oh so decadent!  Where are my yoga pants? Did I really need to eat THREE? 

                         

Dusting the confectioner's sugar off ourselves, we browsed the shops to the first bus stop, climbed to the upper deck (of course we had to go up top!) and began our tour in The famous French Quarter.  We hopped off the bus after just a few stops and walked through the French Quarter, to really get a 'feel', you know?  What a cool place.  Vibrant with electric energy, the bustle of a big city's working back alleys, gorgeous, unique architecture and fascinating people, this is a very interesting place, one I thought I'd never see.

Jazz notes floated on the air as we passed restaurants and bars, every block a new quartet .... people of all walks of life passed by us, as if we were in a slow motion movie.  There's a vibrance to the city, with street groups belting out jazz, restaurant bands crooning southern soul music.  Strolling through the city in mid-morning, every block we traveled produced another dimension to New Orleans (or NOLA as the locals call it). 

I can already tell this is a place I love to visit but I couldn't live here.  A little craziness, yeh, I can handle that.  We only venture into the city in mid-morning through late afternoon.  We're not night-life people and there are plenty of sketchy people around in the daytime.  I can only imagine how nutso it gets at night!

   

Selfies

December 2, 2016.

Just messin' with the cell 'phone when nobody's around .... 
Kim Kar-dane-ian style:

                             

                             

                                                 
                                     

#greatdanedogselfies

Mississippi to Louisiana.

November 28, 2016.

                               


I'm happy to say that the rest of our short trip through Mississippi was positive, great weather, a happy, calm dog and pleasant driving. People were friendly and welcoming, eager to chat and when they quickly realized we were "from away" (like, the minute we talked), they asked us lots of questions about Maine and were happy to offer info about their area.  

Although it was an extremely windy trip to Louisiana, the RV stayed balanced and strong clung to the highway.  When we stopped for a late breakfast we all felt like we'd been on some wild boat ride, we wobbled from the winds hammering us on the highway.  Every time we got out to stretch our legs it took a few minutes to regain our land legs. Zuma was happy to flop on her bed and snooze quietly beside us in the RV as we traveled; she didn't seem to experience any of the shaky symptoms of road buzz like Doug and I had.  She was seemingly enthralled with the views.

Dog is our Co-Pilot!

               

Things definitely changed when we crossed in Louisiana.  It's like, well, they're all happy and singing on the Popeye's Fried Chicken commercials on tv, so yeh, that must be how everyone is in Louisiana!  Not far off, this is a happy, welcoming, friendly, non-judgey place.  The Welcome Center could not have been more welcoming. Grandmotherly-like ladies gently guided me through the brochure selection and I didn't even have to take the dog in for primo service.  

The RV Park is really nice, super clean and quiet.  But the wifi is horrible.  I keep writing blogs but can't post them.  Therefore, I didn't make THE BLOG A DAY CHALLENGE.  I wrote 'em but couldn't post 'em and couldn't get all the pix downloaded but I tried and now I'm trying to post in the middle of the night!  

Another really cool thing about the Park:  there are warning signs about alligators here (the Park edges on a river) but people here say they rarely see them.  They have dog breed restrictions at this Park: No Pit Bulls, No Rottweillers.  We've found this set of rules is not uncommon. Sometimes the dog restrictions are "No dogs larger than 50 lbs".  Basically, the RV Park owners meet Zu and blow off that rule.  This place is huge and the paths are all paved so lots of walking areas, shaded so we don't have to worry about her feet getting too hot on the pavement. 

                  

It's a 30 minute drive into New Orleans.  We're heading there tomorrow!  We're leaving Zuma here while we trek in for a hasty look around to see if it's too crazy for her.  It's supposed to be a dog-friendly city so .... we'll check it out and see if she will be comfortable.