Atypical & Awesome “Mardis Gras”

The parade schedule said 5:45 pm for the Mystics of Time Parade. 6:45 pm and the parade still had not started. The kids, Phillip, and I passed the time by singing along to the overplayed songs piped through the speakers downtown- “Don’t Stop Believing”, “Sweet Caroline, and YMCA”. The man behind me sang “Country Roads” with me and said he was from West Virginia. He and his family had been in New Orleans for Mardis Gras and had travelled to Mobile to check out the home of the “original Mardis Gras”. We watched the infamous Moon Pie drop and the parade finally started. The excitement was palpable. The first float passes through and a few strands of beads are caught. A funky, quirky band complete with bagpipes is in front of us. Then, everything stops. The parade comes to a standstill. Floats continue to throw to the crowd but our placement has just the band in front of us for 30 minutes or so. No one knew what was going on. The parade finally started moving again. We caught beads, and moonpies, and light up rings and the obligatory package of ramen. We passed many of our throws to our new friends behind us as we have bags of stuff from previous Mardis Gras parades. I even risked my life for a necklace in a bag which ended up being a Lime-rita Bud Light medallion lol. After the parade, we went to Whataburger for the first time to try out their supposedly exceptional cokes. They were okay but I will say the fries snd spicy ketchup were really good but that apple pie- my oh my! It is the closest to the old school McDonald’s fried apple pie I have found. I have a new vice and I am not complaining. Today, I get to hug Sarah and Quinn and cannot wait. We sure do miss our Mobile girls. Have a wonderful Sunday!