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My sister Dawn and I went to New Orleans for two weeks over Mardi Gras in February of 1998. My friends Randy and Rob live in Chicago, and I had asked them to join us if they could.

4 AM, Saturday February 14, 1998. Get up really early, get early flight. Call Chicago from Dallas airport transfer point, are told that Randy and Rob finally decided to join us, and are on the bus from Chicago to meet us there.

Get off plane in New Orleans, get tackled by Randy shoving chocolates and a rose into my arms and giving me a bear hug. Take cab back to bus station to fetch the boys' luggage. Take cab to hotel Place D'Armes, right near Jackson Square. Check in Dawn and I, bringing the boys' luggage with us. Get to our room, count to 3, and scream!!!!! because we made it!!!! Go outside, loiter for a bit, bring the boys up to the room that we can only have 2 people stay in. (Yeah, right).

We walk a block to the Caf� du Monde. We throw powdered sugar from the beignets at each other. We act very silly. We leave a big mess.

Nighttime. We go to Bourbon Street. We wander back and forth. It's really crowded! People throwing beads everywhere, women (including Dawn and I) lifting their shirts for beads, guys unzipping their pants for beads, etc. They get some vodka jello-shots from the street-front stands. We hunger. We find a restaurant called "Papa Joe's". We sit upstairs, just inside from the balcony. We can hear Bourbon Street below. I enjoy the food. The waiter is a very warm friendly gay white man who acts just like a black woman, according to Dawn. We know he's gay because he tells us about a Navy man he used to date. We wonder around some more. It takes a long time to walk up and down Bourbon Street in the crowds. They're not as bad as they'll be closer to Mardi Gras, but it is a Saturday night, and things are definitely getting warmed up. I get tired of walking and want some height. We get a table on the balcony of a restaurant called "Ember's". I take lots of photos of the people in the street and on the other balconies. I enjoy the food. Rob orders a Sprite and gets a tall vodka and ice instead. Darn!

We wonder back to the room. We sleep.

Breakfast is muffulettas at the Central Grocery. Then a pleasant little 100 MILE HIKE in HURRICANE FORCE WINDS to the River Walk Marketplace shopping center. We browse, we look at the damage done when that big old boat rammed into the mall a few years ago. It's still being repaired.

We take a cab to the room. Dawn falls asleep. Randy and I escort Rob to the bus station so he can go home. His bus leaves at about 4:30 pm. We'll miss him. Randy and I go back to the room. We sleep.

Up and ready for dinner. I don't remember where we ate, but it was probably good. We walk up and down the public promenade right next to the Mississippi. We sit and talk, we walk some more, we explore the sculptures. We get kicked out by security.

Sunrise, Monday February 16, 1998. We are at the Caf� du Monde. We go back to the room and shower and put on clean clothes.

We come downstairs and ask the desk personnel at the hotel where a good breakfast place would be. They recommend "Camilia's Caf�", on the St. Charles Streetcar line. We walk to Canal Street and wait for the streetcar, with only a few old black ladies in maid's uniforms and a couple of students waiting with us. We ride the streetcar quite a ways. Past both Universities (Tulane and Loyola) and into the Garden District.

We arrive at "Camilia's", to find a sign saying they don't open until 9 AM. Oops! We hang out. There's a card shop next door, and a bench and some people walking around to watch. By this time, Dawn's getting punchy from prolonged periods of activity with only sporadic naps. She's giggling convulsively, and barely able to stand upright. We wait in the steadily-increasing crowd outside the caf�.

The caf� opens. We get seats at the wrap-around counter that is the only seating in the caf�. We have a WONDERFUL breakfast. These guys know what they are doing!! The white toast here is better than whole breakfasts I've had elsewhere. And the omelets are heaven! Randy and I manage to keep Dawn from falling off her stool. We take the poor girl home in a cab.

. We sleep.

We wander around looking for somewhere to eat breakfast. We stumble upon "K-Paul's". It's not open yet, but we don't have long to wait. We're near the front of the line. It opens, we get seated. While we're eating, I see owner Paul Prudhomme motering through on his little wheely cart. I nudge Dawn. She looks up, and goes completely star-struck. She worships Prudhomme. He's her favorite TV chef, and she grew up watching him. He's rolling along, stopping at every table and chatting briefly. He comes to us, and Dawn gets to shake his hand! She's so stunned she can't say anything, but he smiles and chats with us briefly before going to the next table. Dawn says she can go home happy right now, and this will already have been the best trip of her life.

Evening. We wander along Bourbon Street some more. We listen to the live bands in the bars from outside. People are a little less crazy because it's Monday night. We find an "adult shop" with some wonderful leather clothing and masks. Dawn and I both get a black leather harlequin Mardi Gras mask. Bought our Mardi Gras hats. Felt in the 3 official colors, purple, green and gold. Mine has 3 long points with bells at the ends. Dawn's has curlicued dreadlocks.

We sleep.

Caf� du Monde. We walk through the French Market.

The bus for Captain Terry's Swamp Tour picks us up at the hotel. Out to the private land the swamp tour is on. Ride around in the swamp for about 3 hours. Wonderful tour! Captain Terry is amazing! He knows everything!!! We're totally impressed. The bayou is beautiful. There are no alligators out today, but there are lots of other critters. Armadillos, snakes, turtles, swamp rats, herons and other birds. Captain Terry has a 2-year-old, 2-foot-long gator named Elvis on board, and we get to hold and pet him. Very carefully, listening to what the Captain says about how to handle him. He likes out body heat. I lay him on the inside of my forearm with my hand holding his hind legs, and was able to see his face and rub him gently under the chin. He likes that. He relaxes and closes his eyes. I'm glad he's relaxed, because he could bite my finger through to the bone if he wanted to.

Shopping at Jax Brewery Mall.

We wait for the Pegasus Krewe parade on Canal Street for 3 HOURS. It starts late, it takes forever, and by the time it comes, it's small and disappointing.

Our feet hurt and we're hungry, so we leave before it's half over and find the "Red Fish Caf�". Excellent, strange, exotic, flavorful food.

Midnight. Back to the room for sleep.

Noonish, Wednesday, February 18. I wake up in the dark hotel room, and I see Randy standing next to my bed, leaning against the nightstand, smirking at me, watching me sleep. I say, and I don't know why I say this, "Is that you or your ghost?". He doesn't answer. I reach up to cup his cheek with my hand, which I do to him a lot. My hand passes through him, and his image dissolves. I'm completely spooked. I turn on the light, and try to figure out what I saw. There's nothing on the nightstand or the wall that should have looked like him. I get out of bed and lay down on the floor next to Randy and wake him up and ask him about it, telling him not to do that again. He says if it was him, he didn't do it on purpose. We talk about that and other things until everyone's awake, and I forget about it. We start our day at the Caf� du Monde.

Afternoon. We wander around. We take the free ferry across the Mississippi to Algiers. There's nothing really exciting going on, but it's the first time we're on a boat on The River. We find a little down-home bar/diner called the "Dry Dock Caf�". Dawn mis-read it as the "Dry Cock Caf�", so of course that's what we called it. Good food, jukebox blues music, we were practically the only customers. I enjoyed it. We go back to town and walked around some more along the river walk and Jackson Square. Dawn goes back to the room to sleep. Randy and I go to our beautiful, peaceful hotel courtyard. I write postcards and we talk.

The "Haunted History" tour. Our guide is Midian. Long haired, tall, young, trench-coat, silver-tipped walking cane. Good story teller. I was hoping it wouldn't be the kind of tacky tour where they jump out at you from dark alleys and try to scare you. It wasn't. He covered the "most haunted" spots in the French Quarter, according to newspaper articles and gossip and letters written through the decades. He told the stories of the real people who had lived in the homes, and the real events that had happened at the sites, and then the ghost stories that were associated with them. And a couple of the locations where they shot the movie "Interview With the Vampire" just for fun. At the end of the tour, Randy and Dawn and I stopped to talk to Midian. I wanted to ask him if there were any hauntings reported at my hotel, and I told him about seeing Randy's "ghost". He said there have been reports, but not on my floor. I don't know if that should make me feel better or worse. Freaks Dawn out, though, which is fun.

Dinner at "Ember's" on Bourbon Street again. It's one of the only restaurants open that late on a weeknight that's not a bar with an age limit. They say they stay open until no-one else comes in, then they close.

After Midnight, Thursday, February 19. Dawn and I return to the room to sleep. Randy walks around Bourbon Street one last time before he has to go back to Chicago.

Go with Randy to the Greyhound station to say goodbye. His bus leaves at 7:15 AM.

We're back in the room asleep again until Noon.

Breakfast at Jackson Square Caf�. We take a tour in a horse-drawn carriage. We have been looking at the portrait painters surrounding Jackson Square for many days, planning on getting Dawn's portrait done in charcoal. But we haven't seen one who's work we like. Today we look again, and there's someone there we hadn't seen before. We like his stuff more than anyone else's, and he's cheaper. So Dawn finally gets to have her portrait done. It turns out really well. She's happy. Then we shop, go to the Caf� du Monde, and shop some more. We have to get souvenirs for every single person we know, and at least as many for ourselves.

We discover the "Gazebo Caf�" in the French Market. Way cool peppery "barbequed" shrimp, all the other food is excellent too. Live band playing Dixieland jazz and standard blues. Old guys who could play the stuff in their sleep. They eat and drink during each other's solos. I like their mood of weary confidence. It suits the environment. The Caf� is set up really well. It's "outside", but there are walls of hanging heavy clear plastic. So you can watch the people at the Market, but they keep it heated and the wind doesn't get to you or your food. Great wrought-iron tables and chairs. Not the most famous place in the city, but it's now one of my favorites.

Back to the room to recover from our exertions and to rest up for our plantation tour tomorrow.

Picked up by the plantation tour bus. Destrehan tour takes about 2 hours.

Afternoon. Lunch then more shopping. Dinner. Back to the room to re-group, play with our loot, and sleep.

Saturday, February 21. Recovery. Slept until almost dark. Watched TV. Organized.

Evening. Bourbon Street again. Get thrown some beads by some nice people. Learn that getting beads thrown to you is all in the eye contact. We see the cast of The Drew Carey Show on a balcony. Dawn and I both get thrown beads by Drew Carey. Then back to the room to sleep.

Breakfast at "Tujagues". Strange, very high-class place. They only serve one meal, but it has 6 courses, and you get your choice of entr�e. We both had the Filet Mignon. Very good food. Nice space. Dark wood, tall ceilings, white tablecloths, soft-voiced waiters.

Bacchus parade. This time we bought tickets at our hotel for bleacher seating, so we didn't have to stand for hours. Much more fun than Pegasus. We finally get some beads. Lots of high-school marching bands and drum corps represented. Big involvement with the civic and lodge organizations of the city. Guys in traditional "duke" costumes riding horses.

After Midnight, Monday, February 23. We walk back from the parade looking for a restaurant that's still open. We ask around, and are pointed towards the "House of Seafood". Funky, fun, homey place that's still serving. Very friendly drunk waitress tells us her life story. Good food.

Breakfast at "Planet Hollywood". More shopping.

The Dinner Cruise on the Natchez Steamboat. "New Orleans' only steamboat". Not-so-bad Dixieland band. The food sucks, but the spin around Ole' Man River at night is fun, even though it's cold out on the deck.

Back to the room to sleep. Tomorrow's the big day. We need lots of sleep to prepare.

Early Morning, Tuesday, February 24. MARDI GRAS DAY!!! We have tickets to 4 parades, one right after the other. Zulu, Rex, Crescent City, and America, in that order, I think.The same bleacher seating bought through the hotel. The parades are supposed to start at 8:30 AM. Now these are what I call parades! They start a bit late, after 9, but they go almost non-stop until about 6:30!! The first 2 parades are wonderful elaborate floats with themes and people in costume. They don't throw many beads, but they're beautiful. Just like on the postcards and advertisements. Then at about Noon the parades stop and the sun comes out from behind the buildings and we all fell asleep *poof!* instantly! Like someone put a spell on us. Then the sun goes behind the buildings on the other side of the street and we all wake up refreshed and alert, and then the next parade starts. The last 2 parades are my favorites. One had 100 SEMI TRUCKS, and the next had MORE THAN 50 SEMI TRUCKS. On every single truck bed was a couple dozen people whose sole purpose was to throw beads to us. For 4 or 5 hours straight we jump up and down on the bleacher seats, catch their eyes, smile, and shout "THROW ME SOMETHIN' MISTER!!!" at the top of our lungs. At the end, we each have 4 or 5 hundred beads, sore feet and legs, and sexy, husky, broken voices. Luckily, I had read about Mardi Gras before I went, and knew to bring lots of bags for the beads. We each have a plastic garbage bag half full of beads, and they are heavy! Then we go back to the room and PLAY with our beads for a few hours.

Wednesday, February 25. Sleep.

Thursday, February 26. A cab to "Camilia's Caf�" for breakfast. We were planning on taking a walking tour of the Garden District, but it's pouring down rain. So we decide to bite the bullet and get TATTOOS. We had talked about it, and checked out a shop in the Quarter. We had decided to survive Mardi Gras first, and then get the tattoos to commemorate the event. This was the perfect opportunity. So we did it!! I got a harlequin-esque face in black and blue and grey on my calf, and Dawn got music notes on her shoulder blade. I was waiting for Dawn while she got hers done, and I was flipping through a tattoo magazine, and it had an article about the Seattle tattoo scene. There was a picture of an old acquaintance of mine, showing off a new tattoo. I knew then that it was exactly the right moment for me to get my tattoo, and that I was in the right place to do it.

Evening. Dinner at "K-Paul's" again.

Friday, February 27. Another plantation tour, this time Oak Alley and Laura. Laura is the plantation where the Brer Rabbit stories were first written down. One of the sons was interested in folk tales, and wrote down a lot of the tales that the slaves had been told by their parents, brought over from Africa and translated through the generations.

Evening. Dinner at the "Court of Two Sisters", and another walk along a much calmer and cleaner Bourbon Street.

Saturday, February 28. Go home. Sad to leave, but almost too exhausted to stay. We'll be back.

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