Jeanine and I flew to New Orleans this morning for Mardis Gras. We arrived in time to catch two parades. The first was a bust. A vanilla flavored, family oriented affair with floats, marching bands, and fire trucks, something you might see anywhere in the country. The second was a jackpot. Dancers wearing huge feather clad costumes rhythmically moving and singing to the pulsating beat of their traveling percussion ensembles. Technically, the parade had ended but participants spilled over into side streets with no apparent intention of ending the party. The costumes were so intricate and large that it was often hard to find the human faces of the occupants. The New Orleans Police Department was out in force to redirect traffic around the numerous parades happening today.

We spent the late afternoon driving around the lower ninth ward where much of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina remains readily apparent. Spared by the storm were the two Doullut Steamboat Houses. In 1905, Paul Doullut, a steamboat captain, designed and constructed a home facing the Mississippi River. The captain wanted a home reminiscent of the steamboats he and his wife, who was, also, a steamboat captain, guided up and down the river. In 1913, he had a second, identical home built a few hundred yards from his for his son.

We finished the day in the French Quarter which eventually turned into a sea of inebriated and wildly costumed revelers.