Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Kaplan Mardi Gras

Monday we finished sorting the beads and decorating the float.




Monday night the cold weather finally caught up to us.  It rained most of the night and temps dropped from the 70's to the 30's.  Tuesday morning was windy and cold as we headed to the parade.




Finally, the wait was over and the parade began.





Another successful parade! And a great time was had by all.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Mardi Gras 2015

A few weeks ago our friends Peggy and Gene invited us to go to Louisiana with them to visit our friends James and Yvette for Mardi Gras. The lure of warmer weather, good friends and good food made it an easy decision.  We left home last Wednesday, the 11th and headed south.  This was our first trip with the new truck towing the camper and we were anxious to see how it performed.  The eco-boost engine gives us much better acceleration and more power for hills but gas mileage was only about 10% better for most of the trip.  On interstate highways we got about 10 mpg driving 65mph most of the time. Once we got to Louisiana and flatter roads, mileage improved to about 11mpg at 65mph and 13mpg at 60mph.
The first day we drove about 10 hours and stopped at Lakeside RV park in Livingston, LA.
It is a Good Sam park and is very nice and quiet being a few miles from I-12.
Thursday we joined our friends in Abbeville, LA at the Abbeville RV Park.  This is a very quiet, pretty park run by the city.  It has full hookups and wifi but  no public restrooms, store, or laundry.
View along hiking trail in the RV park

From there we went to James' and Yvette's house for lunch and James cooked some  crawfish etouffee and corn maque choux that was delicious as usual.  After lunch, we sorted beads to throw at the parade next Tuesday and assembled  the float.

For dinner we tried a new dish, sausage bread, that was also delicious.
Friday we went on a food tour with Cajun Food Tours where we got try lots of different local foods at several restaurants and a grocery.  We had a great time and found some new favorite foods.
Saturday found us a Palmetto Island state park for the Latanier Cookers Dutch Oven gathering.  James and Yvette are members of this group which cooks everything in Dutch ovens.  There were over 20 people cooking different things and it was all delicious.
The head cooks making jambalaya

Peggy gets some tips

Gene and James watch the pot


Let's Eat!!

Crawfish ponds near the park


Sunday we headed up to Church Point for the Chicken Run. This was our second time to watch this event but it is great fun.
Party goers at 8AM!


The parade begins



The band wagon


Lots of horses



The Captain gives his orders

The Chicken Chasers


The first stop on the parade route


First everyone dances

Then the chase begins

Who says chickens can't fly?



Look out James! Here comes the horde.

The chicken thinks he's safe on the roof...

But these guys are determined...


Starting young

Dancing on horseback

one of the local characters

Nancy and Peggy posing

One of the chasers with his prize

The parade moves on to the next house


















selfie








Gene scavenges for more beads to throw next Tuesday













Peggy and Nancy show off their beads

Another selfie