Ashley Mashley

77. Go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. – CHECK!

Yeah baby! I had this trip planned for over 6 months now. Originally I was going to go with some girlfriends, but ended up going with the boyfriend a.k.a. Mr. Hazel Eyes. Honestly, I thought the night was going to end up in a fight. Surprisingly, it didn’t. We had a blast!

We stayed in the Astor Crowne Plaza off of Canal Street. It was a beautiful hotel and was right off of Bourbon Street! Which I hadn’t realized when I booked it, but it worked perfectly.

First of all, hello strip clubs! I knew there would be some, but they are all over the freaking place! There was even a “Sex Act” place. I don’t want to know. The pictures out front were enough for me. At least it wasn’t a donkey show.

When we started out, it was still daylight and there were already drunks in the street. The bead throwing started early too, although there weren’t any boobies out yet. Bourbon street was trying to be more kid friendly until nightfall. That didn’t stop me from drinking. After we ate a crappy burger, I orded myself a frozen hurricane. Which was dumb on my part since it was already chilly outside and rapidly getting colder. I made it through until someone broke my cup by throwing me beads. Whoops!

After a bathroom break at the hotel (again, thank goodness it was so close!) we caught a parade on Canal. I was so excited until I realized how short I was.. I begged my boyfriend to come up front with me and catch some beads! We watched the floats and marching bands stroll by. Awesome times! Some of the people on the floats were similarly dressed as people in the KKK. Um weird??

All through the night there were shows on the street. There was team of breakdancers who brought their own dance floor and speaker system. They were all over the place–flipping and spinning and getting the crowd into the groove, so they could get their tips.

Here is the guy dressed in gold; he did some moon walking and robotic moves.

I actually found a video of him! Pretty trippy!

We checked out a couple of the bars on the strip and I took about 4 shots out of another girl’s mouth. It sounds grosser than it really was, okay? We even saw the end of a fight coming out of Willie’s Chicken Shack. The guy was lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood when all the cops on horses arrived.

We saw some boobs (most were not that great) and I got beads without having to show my knockers. Successful night!!