Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. ~ Marcus Aurelius
It’s been a cold and very rainy winter in the California Bay Area, at least by our normal winter standards. As a nomad I have the ability to adapt to the climate where I live and even for me, mornings this winter have been chilly. I especially have a hard time keeping my hands warm and so I spend a lot of time in gloves most mornings. The other day I noticed that it was a chilly 52 degrees and I chuckled to myself.
I started thinking back to one of my previous lives, when I was a college student at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Given that it was mid-March I realized that back in Plattsburgh, 12 miles south of the Canadian border, in the lovely and freezing Adirondack mountains, it was likely still at or below freezing. I can specifically remember a day in March when it in fact did hit 50 degrees. It was like a vacation, people were out everywhere on campus playing hacky sack, frisbee, hell there were even people laying out tanning. And here I was at 52 degrees freezing my ass off!
What it brought me around to think about is a very important concept in happiness, the idea of relative happiness. You see here at 50 degrees in March and I’m freezing and bummed out, in Plattsburgh at 50 degrees in March and I’m joyously warm. The rational and simple reason for that of course is that 50 in March in Plattsburgh is a day 20 degrees warmer than it would normally be, so it feels like a windfall. However, I’m the same human in both places at the same temperature, so it reminds us that the choice of whether or not to be happy about the weather on a 50 degree morning is entirely contained within us.
Now I’m not an absolutist, yes, happiness is a choice, but in the middle of having a bad flu I’m not going to suggest you can be yippy skippy while you’re vomiting in the toilet. But most of the time, in fact, it is completely up to us whether or not to be happy in any given situation. I’m trying to keep this in mind these days at my job. So make the good choice and have a happy day my friends. ~ Rev Kane
The inclination to believe in the fantastic may strike some as a failure in logic, or gullibility, but it’s really a gift. A world that might have Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster is clearly superior to one that definitely does not. ~ Chris Van Allsburg
I had planned a week off to go to Sequoia National Park and spend some time out in the forest with the giant redwoods. I had gotten the time off, booked my rooms and was waiting to see if one of the cabins would be available inside the park on March 24th. When March 24th rolled around I went to the park site to check on cabins and what I found instead was several alerts for the park detailing the damage the recent atmospheric river storms had done. This included washing out the entrance roads, so not only would there be no cabins available, the park itself is likely fully closed until May. I was really disappointed, and after a couple of days of sitting with my disappointment I decided that if I couldn’t see giant trees in central California, I could certainly see them up north. So I made a detour and headed north to Redwoods National Park. The park is actually a series of state and federal parks that run for nearly a hundred miles.
This of course is also Bigfoot Country. I’ve always been interested in cryptozoology and have always had a serious fascination with the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. In fact, my first presentation in tenth grade was on the Loch Ness Monster which included showing an episode of In Search Of with Leonard Nimoy. This even inspired my first hike in Scotland, the Great Glen Way which ends at Loch Ness. I first entered Bigfoot Country in 1988 when I came to Arcata, California to be the best man in my friend John’s wedding. I even bought a Bigfoot sightings map that hung on my wall wherever I lived for at least a decade afterward. And in searching for an image of it, I found and have just purchased it on eBay.
So since I was making the trek up north I looked into what I might be able to visit related to Bigfoot. What I found was the Bigfoot Museum in Willow Creek, just south of where the most famous Bigfoot sighting and filming took place at Bluff Creek by Patterson and Gimlin.
A selfie with me and “Patty” the Bigfoot seen here in a still from the Patterson-Gimlin film.
The Museum at China Flat hosts the Bigfoot Museum collection, it’s one room in the back, but it’s definitely worth the trip. I was excited while reading through the website only to find that I’d be able to be in town on Tuesday, but this time of year the museum was only open Wednesday through Sunday. I was completely devastated until I read a little sentence on the site about possibly open by appointment. Normally I would have just planned not to visit, but I really wanted to go and so I took a shot and fired off an email to the museum. I got a fairly quick reply back from the director who was very nice and the message said that if there was a volunteer available, we might be able to work something out. A day or so later another email came in saying that a volunteer name Terri could be available at noon on the day I was in the area. I was totally excited!
Willow Creek is no metropolis and other than a few restaurants, there isn’t a lot there. But I got into town about an hour early, walked around and checked out the Bigfoot Capital of the World. It’s a cute little town, people were generally nice and welcoming and there’s a nice little park next to the museum.
At the appointed time I walked up to the Museum to meet Terri, who greeted me by name as I arrived. She was super friendly and nice, and by chance I even got to meet the director I’d been emailing with, she was also incredibly welcoming and nice. The main part of the museum is really interesting, there are a lot of cool little exhibits about the history of the area. Terri was super knowledgeable and clued me in to some of the neat facts about the exhibits that I wouldn’t have picked up on my own.
But of course, the big prize for me was the Bigfoot Exhibit. The exhibit is in the back corner of the museum and while not a big room has a ton of information and displays. For the uninitiated, the room will give you a great background into the Bigfoot phenomenon. For those of us that have been digging into this for some time, it’s a bit like coming home. Yes, I knew the general history of Bigfoot, I’d seen the lists of sightings, well over 100, as well as the details of some of the more famous cases. But the real treasure of this museum is two things. First, the casts, there are a bunch of casts including a lot of casts that Gimlin made including some replicas of the casts from the famous film.
My own foot, a size 11 in comparison to some of the plaster casts in the museum
There was also some cool info on some DNA testing from a local sample that matched human-ape DNA but didn’t match any known DNA specifically.
The second treasure of the museum is the fact that it’s there, that the volunteers have been around this for there adult life. Terri was full of stories, but not the stories you expect. There are notebooks in the museum where people have written down stories of encounters. But the stories I found really fascinating were those about how the museum got started, the donations by Bob Gimlin that made it possible and a further donation that included an early copy of the Patterson-Gimlin film. The early copy was digitized and is likely the one you now see when you watch Bigfoot documentaries. Terri was amazing and a wealth of information about the researchers and especially Bob Gimlin. It wasn’t what I expected but it was so much better than I could have hoped for.
Of course there was also Bigfoot merch and I loaded up, cool stuff, decent prices and so my nieces and nephews are all getting there own Bigfoot gear. The museum was a blast, even got to give Bigfoot a little fist bump before heading out to the Mexican restaurant next door, for a very solid and huge portioned lunch before leaving town. The museum was fun and I’m thinking now I’ll have to make a return visit for Bigfoot Daze in July. If you’re a Bigfoot fan, definitely worth the visit.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~ Arthur C. Clarke
The impact of technology on human happiness is a subject of much debate. While some people argue that technology is making us more isolated and unhappy, others suggest that technology can be used to improve our well-being and increase our happiness. Here are some ways in which technology can be used to promote happiness:
Apps and Online Programs: There are numerous apps and online programs available that can help people improve their mental well-being, such as meditation apps like Headspace and Calm, and therapy programs like BetterHelp and Talkspace. These apps offer guided meditations, cognitive behavioral therapy, and other tools that can help people manage stress, anxiety, and depression.
Wearables and Health Tracking: Wearable devices like Fitbit, Apple Watch, and other fitness trackers can help people monitor their physical activity, sleep, and other health metrics. This can encourage people to be more active and engage in healthy behaviors, which in turn can improve their mood and overall well-being.
Social Media: Social media can be a double-edged sword when it comes to happiness. On one hand, it can connect people with others and provide them with emotional support. On the other hand, it can also lead to feelings of jealousy, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), and other negative emotions. To promote happiness, it’s important to use social media in a way that fosters positive connections and avoids comparisons with others.
Virtual Reality: Virtual Reality (VR) technology can be used to create immersive experiences that promote relaxation and reduce stress. For example, VR environments can simulate a relaxing beach or nature scene, allowing people to escape from their everyday stresses and immerse themselves in a calming environment.
Gaming: Video games can also have a positive impact on happiness. Gaming can provide a sense of achievement, improve cognitive function, and create social connections through multiplayer games. However, it’s important to ensure that gaming doesn’t become an addiction and doesn’t interfere with other aspects of life.
Online Communities: Online communities can provide people with a sense of belonging and emotional support. For example, people with chronic illnesses or disabilities can connect with others who have similar experiences and find comfort in shared experiences. Online communities can also provide a space for people to share their interests and connect with others who share their passions.
While technology can be a powerful tool to promote happiness, it’s important to remember that it’s not a panacea. It’s important to use technology in a way that enhances our lives and doesn’t replace real-world interactions or healthy behaviors. By using technology thoughtfully and intentionally, we can leverage its power to promote happiness and improve our well-being.
This post is an absolute testimony to how technology helps us in our lives, because everything below the opening quote and above this paragraph was generated in about 30 seconds by an Artificial Intelligence (AI) called ChatGPT. That’s right the AI allowed me to cut my normal 30 minutes to an hour down to about 15 minutes. Canva’s AI Image generator also created the image and both AI’s are available to use for free. So technology can also help us be happier by expediting tasks that then free up more time for us to do the things that truly make us happy. ~ Rev Kane
Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne
Recently I was having a conversation with a friend and we were remembering an event. I had, just the week before, been asked about the event by another friend. I relayed in that instance that I believed the event was two and a half years ago. When I was talking to my other friend, they informed me that in fact, it was six years ago. I was blown away that this could be true, but after some conversation I had to admit it was accurate.
The next day I was grabbing a long-sleeved shirt out of my closet and the shirt I grabbed was a present from my brother. Of course, the gift was a shirt with the following, printed on the front:
The Mayans were wrong MMXII
It took me aback that the shirt was over ten years old, it doesn’t seem nearly that long.
This all got me thinking about time. Time is a curious thing as it can simultaneously drag along slowly and fly by all at the same time. Basically the days can feel long while the years fly by. Recently I was at an anniversary party talking to someone I’ve known for fifty-four years, amazing.
Of course there is also an observer effect in place. When your five, a year is 20% of your entire experience, but when your 50 it’s 2% of your experience which is a much smaller piece and therefore seems to go by much more quickly. All in all though, it doesn’t matter. The important lesson in this for all of us is that life is fleeting and every minute is precious. So make the time for those you truly care about and don’t put off that which you desire to do, or you may realize it’s just too late to do it.
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action. Your positive action combined with positive thinking results in success. ~ Benjamin Disraeli
I’m sure I’m not alone in this, I’ll be walking through a store or looking at a website and I think, hmmm, I bet my friend would really like that. It’s a great thought and I move on and sometimes a few days later it hits me that I really should have gotten that for them. I feel bad, but there are no real consequences to opting not to do something nice for people and I go on about my life.
Recently I’ve decided that I need to start acting on these thoughts. What brought this idea about for me was being back in New Orleans at Mardi Gras a few weeks ago. You see one of the times that I acted on this type of thought was when I was at Mardi Gras about 5 years ago. I was at the parades and catching lots of beads and other throws and while I was giving a lot away to kids around me, it hit me that my nieces and nephews might enjoy some as well. So the next night at the parades I brought a bag and collected a ton of throws. The next day I hiked up to the post office and packed several boxes and sent them out. I was right, they were thrilled to get a bunch of Mardi Gras beads and nick-nacks. This past year I sent back boxes to them, as well as to my assistant at work for her kids.
The type of things I’m talking about don’t have to be large or expensive. It can be picking up a cup of coffee for someone, or as simple as grabbing a sticker for a little kid. So after coming back from Mardi Gras, I spent a lot of time thinking about my trip, I’m admittedly someone who spends time ruminating on the things I do and that happen in my life. And in that process I decided that I needed to change my ways and start acting on these type of thoughts more often.
Recently, I was in the office of a colleague and she’s a really wonderful and incredibly nice person. She mentioned that the week before she had her sixtieth birthday. I wished her a belated happy birthday, I had been in New Orleans at that time, and went on about my day. But it hit me I should do something, and this was exactly the type of thought I’m talking about. She has a couple of cats she dearly loves and so I went out a few days later and picked up a nice plant, a card and a couple of toys for the kitties. It was a small matter but it did exactly what these little types of actions do. It made her happy when she got the gifts, it made me happy to have done it for her.
That’s what giving to others does, it creates happiness on both sides, it makes both the giver and the receiver happier than they were before. And so deciding to act on these things is a way to bring more happiness into the world. In a way, it was my Granny that taught me this lesson. She was that person that always sent you a card. You got a card for your birthday, all the major holidays and sometimes even minor holidays, maybe not Arbor Day, but definitely Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day. The thing she also did, almost psychically, was to randomly send a five or a ten dollar bill in the mail. I’ve told this story often, but when I was a grad student at the University of Tennessee, I was often broke. And it always seemed when I was broke, and it was still a week to payday, I’d find a ten dollar bill in the mail and a note saying get a burger and a beer on me. All of these cards, while small gestures, always made that day better.
So friends, when you have those thoughts, if you can, act, drop a small bit of happiness on someone you care about, or hell, even a perfect stranger, you’ll make everyone happier and of course, have a happier day my friend. ~ Rev Kane
A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. ~ Walter Winchell
So last week I took a day off of work to spend the day with a couple of friends in San Francisco. We all need a friend who is actually there when we are at a our worst. That’s my friend Kara. About twenty years ago, for the second time in my life I hit bottom. A relationship had blown up and it sort of just shattered everything for me. She called me one night and I fell apart on the phone, so she called again the next night, and the next, and the next… Honestly, she made it possible for me to hold it together, even as tentatively as I did at that time. The simple fact is, I probably trust her more than anyone I know, and I owe her a lot for what she did. She’s a great friend, the kind of friend who without hesitation will tell you if she thinks your wrong, question what you’re doing, or ask you heavy pointed questions. The thing is, no matter how direct the question, or how hard or deep the question, you always know it comes from a place of love. I endeavor to be this person for others, to live up to her example.
For your good friends, the people you’ve made your selective family, you want only good things for them. At one point Kara started dating a guy named Jimmy, it started to get serious and I hoped he was a good guy, I should have known better. When I met him, it was immediately obvious that my friend had found someone just like her. As such, Jimmy and I have also become very close and I consider him to be family as well. Even if he occasionally gives me ridiculously huge smiles in photographs.
You know when you are truly close to people, that when you get together the only plan needs to be, to be together. Our plan for the day in San Francisco was simple, walk, talk and eat. We spent nine hours walking around San Francisco, taking the occasional break to sit on benches with great views like in Mission Dolores Park, or comfortable chairs in places like Golden Gate Park and when the spirit moved us we ate. Kara had a list of place she wanted to try and we made visits to Nopalito, Lokma and Otra. Three fantastic places that I highly recommend. The beauty of the day was not just everything San Francisco had to show us, but the opportunity to just talk for hours and hours with two good friends and amazing people. It was without a doubt, the best day I’ve had in a long time.
Find time for these sorts of times and you’ll have happy days my friends. ~ Rev Kane
Just some sock monkeys having dinner in San Francisco
To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear. ~ Buddha
I have written often recently about the period of languishing I went through during the last couple of years. Like many of you, the height of the pandemic brought me too much tragedy, people who died, were diagnosed with cancer, suffered strokes or nearly died from COVID. As I wrote in my recent post on Mardi Gras, I recently feel like I’ve turned a corner and things are getting back to a new type of normal.
One of the things that I was happy about during this tough period was that I kept exercising pretty regularly, however there is one major place where I fell short, my blood sugar. This has been an ongoing struggle for me. The fact is, there are just too many things that I really love eating that are not good for me. Add to that, that I’m really kind of out of vices, no longer much of a womanizer, clean and sober I really only have two vices left, gambling and carbs. Let’s just say I’m a lot less exciting than I use to be. So, when things get tough I often turn to comforting foods. That is usually the things I grew up eating, pasta, potatoes and of course most of all pizza ad Coca-cola.
So, in trying to get this back under control I’ve started a 7 week program to get my numbers down. I’m currently in week 2. What I’m doing is my standard workouts each week with weights, I lift about 5 days a week, cycling through bicep, shoulder, chest/biceps workouts. I also do shoulder exercises about 4 nights a week that had been prescribed to me by my physical therapist. I also walk/run 20 miles a week, typically walking 3 miles a day with a couple of days where I run a mile, I really hate to run and so am just getting that back into my routine.
Most importantly I’m severely cutting carbs, basically going keto although it’s taken until later this week for me to get to the minimal level of carbs needed for this and now the fun part of making sure I’m consuming enough fat to get the macros right so I get into ketosis.
So far, so good, in the two weeks I’ve dropped by morning sugar numbers by about 80 points. I still need to bring them down another 60-80, yes, they were very high. But hopefully over the next 4 weeks I’ll be able to get there. One nice side effects of all of this is that I’m starting to drop some weight, I’ve lost 4 pounds in the last two weeks, which should also have a positive impact on my blood sugar.
The tie-in to happiness tonight is a very simple and old cliche, health and happiness are integrally linked. My blood sugar being high doesn’t drastically impact me a lot, when it’s real high, I get a little neuropathy in my feet, some blisters, and it increases my bathroom frequency which can disrupt my sleep a little. As those numbers decrease, those issues pretty quickly disappear and I can report they have already. So hopefully I can stay disciplined for another 4 weeks, get my numbers down and then reasonably maintain them, we’ll see. ~ Rev Kane
In New Orleans, we celebrate everything. It’s probably the only place you’ll see people dancing in a funeral home. ~ Trombone Shorty
IN GENERAL
I love New Orleans, I have often said it’s the only city I’ve felt truly comfortable in. I’ve felt this way since the first time I set foot there. Every time I’ve been there I’ve had an incredible time and often they have been very different trips. Without a doubt thought, my favorite time there is during Mardi Gras season. I’ve written a lot about it in the piece I’ve linked to and will add some detail below about Mardi Gras.
A special note about Bourbon Street. For most people when they hear New Orleans the first thing they think about is drinking hurricanes and getting loaded on Bourbon Street while watching women flash their breasts for beads. And that all certainly happens, especially every weekend night, and most nights whenever the city is full of tourists. Also for this reason, a lot of people really come down negatively on the French Quarter as the world’s best crime infested tourist trap. This is not entirely a miscategorization. The French Quarter, especially Bourbon Street is full of tourist traps, and there certainly are a number of criminals looking for tourists who are drunk and out of control to take advantage of them.
But there are also amazing things to experience in the quarter. Lots of small quirky museums, fascinating shops, hole in the wall amazing places to eats and most importantly, always, yes always interesting things you could never expect to see. New Orleans is a huge and complex city, there are lots of areas and a myriad of things to do. I’m focusing on a small area and a small set of things I know and love well. Don’t miss the walking tours, the museums, the aquarium, the buskers, Preservation Hall, the million jazz clubs, I think you see the permutations are endless.
New Orleans is a music and food city, both are everywhere and jazz is king, but jazz is a broad and complicated form of music. If you’re a jazz person I would actually point you toward evenings on Frenchman Street at the base of the quarter. I don’t like every form of jazz and I’m not well enough versed to know what types I like, but for me the one place I always spend at least part of one evening is Fritzels European Jazz Club on Bourbon Street, the jazz there seems to be the kind I like and it’s worth a visit.
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras is an amazing time in New Orleans, the season starts a full month before Fat Tuesday. The parades are the star of the show so if you go during Mardi Gras, don’t miss the parades. The big parades do not go into the French Quarter, don’t stay down on Canal Street, make your way up St. Charles and hang out with the locals and the families, I promise you an amazing time. St. Charles is also the main street car route when the parades aren’t happening. Finally, remember, Mardi Gras ends at midnight on Fat Tuesday and they literally clear the streets and shut the bars.
rabbit and dumplings
Restaurants
All of the restaurants on this list I have, or close friends have personally eaten at. There are literally over 1000 restaurants in New Orleans, so this list is nowhere near comprehensive or even a good survey. The list is French Quarter focused and does not include high brow fancy restaurants. There are plenty in New Orleans and you can find them on the net. The restaurants on the list do not require fancy clothes and will not break the bank. Most do require sleeved shirts and at most a collared shirt.
Coterie – I am angry at myself, I have had Coterie on my list for awhile but hadn’t got there. I got there for the first time on my last trip several weeks ago. It was incredible, the best gumbo I’ve ever had, I ate there three times in two days, don’t miss Coterie.
Cochon/Cochon Butchery – The recent discovery of Coterie is the only reason Cochon was not at the top of this list, it is my favorite restaurant in New Orleans. They also have a fabulous sandwich shop around the corner which features Le Pig Mac, basically all of the ingredients of a Big Mac but with pork patties, it’s amazing. If you go to Cochon I will recommend my favorite dish, the Rabbit and Dumplings, it is simply transcendent.
Willie Mae’s Scotch House – Famous as having the best fried chicken in America, not fancy, it’s a simple place with simply fantastic food.
Dooky Chase – a really basic lunch cafe, you don’t go there for the food, but the history. It was a gathering place for leaders during the civil rights movement it’s like having lunch in a civil rights museum.
Mothers – Another place that you will think I was nuts for sending you too, it’s a modest brick building, and when you enter, after waiting in line, there is always a line, you will thiink you have entered back to your high school cafeteria. But order your food and find a table, the place is way bigger than you originally think and be ready to eat some quality southern fare for very reasonable prices.
Deanie’s Seafood – Deanie’s is not magnificent, but always solid. The meal always starts with some boiled potatoes, the service is quick and good, your food typically comes quick, the servings are big and you’ll be full and satisfied.
Ruby Slipper – I typically stay near this breakfast/brunch place and there is always and insane line for this place every morning during Mardi Gras and every other weekend. Finally, on my last trip, up early on a Monday morning I was able to walk in and get a seat at the bar. The biscuits and gravy I had were really good, the woman next to me had the pancakes and I was instantly jealous. The mimosas were flowing even on a Monday morning and it seems like a fantastic place to have brunch, they don’t do reservations.
Neyows – is the one mid-city place on my list. Great traditional New Orleans restaurant, reasonable prices and most of all, super generous portions. Haven’t been there myself in a few years but the online reviews are still really strong for this place.
The lobby at the International House
Hotels
All four of the following hotels are situated within a block of each other. They are all within 2 blocks of the Mardi Gras parade route on St. Charles. They are all within three blocks of the French Quarter, within a minute walk to Ruby Slippers, 5 minutes to Mothers, 7 minutes Coteri, 12-15 minutes to Cochon.
Voco Hotel St. James – Nice hotel, not a ton of amenities but really nice rooms, some actually witih couches and chairs. Great location and a good price.
Eliza Jane – Basically the same as the Voco Hotel St. James, right across the street in fact, slightly cooler feel to the hotel, nice bar, about the same level of rooms and price.
International House – I have never stayed here, but I’ve had a drink in it’s bar on a couple of occasions and they have by far the funkiest lobby I’ve ever seen, like something out of Alice in Wonderland. Website seems like simple but unique rooms, definitely not your standard hotel.
Magnolia – Very nice hotel, rooms only have one bed, but it’s a nice big bed. I haven’t stayed here since it’s changed owners but still seems to be a great place to stay.
Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world. ~ Marilyn Monroe
Recently I decided to buy a new pair of Merrell hiking shoes. And when I finally unboxed the new shoes I took a look at my old shoes and felt and emotional response to the idea of donating or tossing them. After a little thought it made a lot of sense, this pair of shoes has been on a hell of a journey with me. I bought these Merrells when I was preparing to hike the Appalachian Trail seven years ago. I bought two pairs right before I started the trail. My first pair went belly up after my first 800 miles on the trail. That meant that my first pair ended up doing over a 1000 miles of walking. This pair did the last 200 miles of the trail with me. But they did so much more. These shoes have been with me for the last seven years, they started on the AT, they walked the streets of Pensacola with me while I wrote my book Appalachian Trail Happiness. The were on my feet for three Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans and one in Mobile, Alabama. The strolled across the playa at Burning Man. They’ve hiked across parts of the Mojave Desert, as well as Spain, Portugal, Morocco and all the way across Scotland. The life of these shoes has been a story of adventure and while I’ll be sad to let them go, they’re being replaced by a pair that I hope will be what I’m wearing on the first steps of my next hike on the AT. Have a happy day my friends. ~ Rev Kane
You should celebrate the end of a love affair as they celebrate death in New Orleans, with songs, laughter, dancing and a lot of wine. ~ Francoise Sagan
Mardi Gras in New Orleans is not just Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras is not a holiday, it’s a season. The first Mardi Gras parade happens a month before Fat Tuesday. Officially, Mardi Gras starts 12 days before Fat Tuesday, but in New Orleans, Mardi Gras (Carnival) starts with that first parade. The city embraces the season, hell it revels in the season. Work schedules change around parade days and on the final weekend, which starts on Thursday and ends on Fat Tuesday, the city is fully on holiday.
I did my first Mardi Gras around 15 years ago. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I’d been to New Orleans before and I really loved being there. There is absolutely something about that city that touches my soul. I have often said, New Orleans is the only city that from the first minute I set foot in it, felt like I have always been there, like it was home.
So I knew I would have a good time, like a lot of folks though, the images I had about Mardi Gras were the drunken debauchery that is Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras. Imagine a mile long drunken frat party that is hosting an episode of Girls Gone Wild. That is Bourbon Street on the last weekend of Mardi Gras, but that is NOT Mardi Gras. The central part of Mardi Gras are the parades. As a kid I hated parades. In my hometown a parade meant a couple of poorly designed floats, a couple of mediocre marching bands, cop cars, fire trucks and clumsy cub scouts and old dudes in uniforms. The only thing I ever found exciting was the time they actually had a tank in the parade and the cleats tore up main street.
So I wasn’t all that excited about Mardi Gras parades but I figured I’d give them a chance. So for my first parade I found my way up Charles Street on the parade route looking for a place to watch. The first surprise was that the route was full of families, they had ladders for the kids to sit on and people were picnicking before the parade. It became immediately obvious, this was not going to be like the frat party on Bourbon Street. The second thing that became obvious was that people were super happy, they were social and friendly and it was easy to meet people.
The parades themselves were amazing, incredible floats including some that were very political and funny. The marching bands were incredibly skilled, there were dance crews, riders on horse, walkers carrying torches. The parades were huge and went on for hours. Then there were the throws, as most people know, the riders throw beads, stuffed animals, toys, signature throws that are unique to each crew and often hand crafted. They also throw doubloons, fake metal coins stamped for each krewe, I love these. I have collected a doubloon at every parade I’ve ever attended. I give away almost everything I collect either to kids at the parades, cute women, and I mail a bunch back to my nieces and nephews. The only things I keep are signature throws, the occasional quirky or interesting throw and of course the doubloons.
This year, in addition to the doubloons, I caught three grail from the Krewe of King Arthur (their signature throw) and a really nice winter hat emblazoned with the krewe’s name on it. And I usually keep a couple of strings of the nicest beads.
My last Mardi Gras was 2020, yup, right at the beginning of the pandemic. Returning home the first headline that I saw was Mardi Gras – Super Spreader Event! Fortunately, I didn’t get COVID somehow, although I had a small cold. Which of course led to my staff joking I was patient zero for COVID in California.
As I’ve written about before, I went into a bit of what they’ve termed languishing, during COVID. I wasn’t depressed, I was functioning at work, working out but I was really void of motivation. A book project didn’t get finished, my writing dropped off significantly. And while socializing wasn’t a good idea for health reasons, and I’m a bit antisocial to start with, I definitely withdrew a bit more than usual. Of course, my joy is travel and that was pretty solidly curtailed as well. I found myself spending a lot of time just watching TV after work and exercise.
The last couple of months I’ve turned the corner, started writing a bit more, and then the message popped in. It was my buddy Rich, it was a simple message, Mardi Gras 2023? I immediately said yes. It felt like this trip was a fitting end to the COVID period and my languishing. Now, don’t jump all over me, I’m a trained biologist and I know the pandemic is not over. I’m still very careful and masking actually far more than most people. But there’s a shift for me as COVID and COVID protocols have just become part of life, and I’ve adapted to that new way of life.
So this trip to Mardi Gras was going to be significant for that reason if nothing else. But this was the best trip I’ve ever had to Mardi Gras. First, it was a great balance of time in town with a good friend as well as a few days on my own. This was my first time attending the next to last weekend of Mardi Gras and it was wonderful. All of the things you want from a Mardi Gras weekend but the crowds were much smaller and I got to see parades I’ve never seen before. Rich and I met some great people at the parades, we hung out with some great folks from Alabama, and as it always seems to happen, met some New Yorkers.
The trip started with an error on my part. I thought I had booked the last place I stayed. I got to the hotel and everything was different. At first I thought they’d done a big remodel but it didn’t make sense. I was happy when I got to my room because it was huge and well furnished. When I first left the hotel it immediately hit me. I had booked the Hotel St. James, but in fact I had meant to book the Eliza Jane, also nice, but in fact the rooms at the Hotel St. James were nicer.
The one downside to this trip, it was really cold for Lousiana, in the 40’s one night at the parade, low 50’s during the day. We did a swamp tour which was great, our captain Zander was a hoot. But it was too cold for alligators to be out and about, and of course they are usually the stars of the tours.
The one thing of course that never lets you down in New Orleans is the food. I’ll be doing a post later this week just on my food and other recommendations for New Orleans but I want to mention two places. The first is Cochon, my favorite restaurant in New Orleans. This time I got my favorite dish there, the rabbit and dumplings and it was and always is absolutely transcendentally good.
The second restaurant was one that had been on my list for some time, but I had not made it to, and that was Coteri. Coincidentally it was recommended to me twice while in the city on this trip. I made it the day before I left and ate there three times before leaving, they have the best gumbo I’ve ever had. I also added another to do off of my list, a Sazerac at The Old Absinthe House. It’s become a tourist trap in the French Quarter but how often can you drink an Absinthe drink in a nearly 200 year-old pirate bar. One other restaurant that has always intrigued me is the Ruby Slipper. I stay near there and walk by it every morning, and every morning it’s packed with a huge line out of front. On my last morning I finally got there early and in without a line. I had a plate of very good biscuits and gravy, I’m not sure it was wait 30 minutes to get in good, but it was very good and from what I saw on other plates, the food is very well done.
When I woke the last morning, I got an email upgrading me to first class for my first flight home a really great way to wrap up the trip. Below are some pictures from the trip, enjoy. ~ Rev Kane
The Ministry of Happiness 