What a great night’s sleep. Our room is very large with separate sitting area with desk. The chairs look out the window over the pool and across to the beach!
Down to the breakfast nook for a hot breakfast and fresh fruit and then a quick check in with the desk clerk (same lady as yesterday). We tell her we plan to stay for the parade and she says “Book for tomorrow night now because I only have two rooms left.” We do – and feel really lucky we can stay here all weekend. The weather is warm and sunny and not too many people on the beach! Back to our room to work on the blog some more and also a quick trip to the beach.
Such pretty long stretches of sand and so few people. Lots of shells too!
We bring this little duck on our travels – she has been in the front seat of the car for most of this trip but it seems like the right thing to do to bring her to the beach. She was a gift from a hotel on a past adventure. There are more birds in this area of the beach!
Lots of fun but we need to get back to get downtown for lunch and then set up camp before the 5:30 parade!
Wow – we get back to our room just in time to see some of the floats heading down to assemble for the parade. We better get ready and get down there!
The plan is to park at the Marina and then walk across the street to the little park right on the corner of the parade route.
We get a prime parking spot and are close to the parade route. TIme to head to lunch and explore a bit more in this area.
The Mardi Gras Museum is close by so we stop by to get more information. Sadly the museum is closed today for the celebration. Shouldn’t this particular museum be open today?
Mary Mahoney’s is a highly recommended and rated restaurant right across from the museum. All decorated for Mardi Gras too. Let’s try it!
The grounds are so peaceful and beautiful – can’t wait to see the inside and taste the food!
This is the crab salad – delicious and so much!
We didn’t bring any ice or ice packs to keep our leftovers cold while we are at the parade – what to do? Our waiter brings a full bag of ice cubes and watertight containers so we can keep the food and have fun at the same time! What a nice guy! Then he offers that the parking lot of the restaurant is available if we want to park there for the parade. Something to consider for sure!
After using the rest rooms we notice this sign in one of the many rooms of this restaurant. We had to walk up 5 steps to get to this floor from street level. How high was that water?
We are walking back to the car to put our goodies in a cooler and gather our blanket and camera equipment and see people are already lined up around the barricades and the police are starting to make a presence. It’s only 3:15 pm folks – a long time until the parade. We see a family with coolers and tables and chairs and start to realize these folks take a parade seriously! Let’s just keep the car where it is and grab our stuff.
Confident that we are ready – we sit next to this family with our blanket and GoPro camera in place. We are not sure how good the video will be as this is a new Hero 5 Go-Pro that we have not used very much – and Dale is mounting it to the barricades that might move or shake during the parade. Time will tell.
Looks like the dog is scouting out a spot in our area! With so much time left before the actual parade begins it looks like people are in a festive playful mood and enjoy the day and the park.
The people here in Mississippi are so nice. The family next to us declares “You cannot sit on that blanket for the parade – take these chairs – we have two extra”! We, of course, say thanks but we are okay and they insist we are not okay – “Trust US” – so we humbly accept and find ourselves sitting above street level.
There is a lot of pre-parade activity around us. These two sisters come to the parade every year and tell us that last year they were in the Southern Living magazine. We are definitely not dressed appropriately!
The sisters decide Nancy is nowhere near festive enough and give her bead to get revved up! More advice: “Keep your mouth closed when they start throwing beads. Last year I chipped a tooth.” What kind of parade is this?
It is starting to get crowded and space is quickly filling up!
The media has arrived and we are hearing some cheering from further up the street. Anticipation!
The motorcycle police do a few wheelies to get things started – and then we are all systems go! There are no words to explain the excitement, happiness, and just pure fun that everyone is experiencing. See for yourselves! Be sure to watch all vehicles and persons for beads!!!! There is a lot of screaming for beads!
This is the Krewe of King Neptune Parade and all Hail the King on the first float! (A krewe is an organization that puts on a parade or ball for the Carnival season.)
Thanks Wikipedia!
Nancy yells “I’m an Army Grandma” and they throw a whole bag full of beads! GO ARMY!
We are told that there are no more marchers after the Clydesdales – only floats!
Hours later the Biloxi Fire Company and Police wrap up the parade. Everyone has more beads than anyone could need or want. A short video of the parade:
We say goodnight and thanks to our new Mississippi friends – they are asking if we had a good time and of course we did! We are tired and it will be a challenge to find our way back to the hotel with all the roads closed – the parade will continue on the route for another 3 miles so those folks will be here a while! We get out of the parking lot okay but take a wrong turn and end up miles away from our hotel. The GPS keeps trying to take us on the main route but it is closed. URGH!
Okay – we are finally back at our hotel – tired and hungry. The pool looks good but too weary to take advantage of it tonight.
My neck hurts from carrying all these beads!
Time to wind down and reflect on how lucky we are to be here and experience this event! There must be a cupcake around here somewhere!