Beads! Beads! Beads!

Coming to Louisiana, I had always heard about Mardi Gras and the "main" traditions..but wow! I had no idea what this was really all about. With the Super Bowl being in New Orleans this year, it changed some things up and had to move some parades around..but that didn't stop anyone or anything!
Two weeks ago, Monroe had their Mardi gras parade. It was actually a VERY cool weekend! It started with Kelly, a friend of mine, and I taking her little boy to the pet parade. It was so funny and tons of people dressing up their dogs in costumes and floats. As we were driving back to the house, hundreds of people were already lining up for the 6:00 parade at 2:30. It was a HUGE tailgate party down the Main Street of Monroe with campers, tents, and hillbilly golf. We headed to the parade around 5:30 and watched as float after float went by throwing thousands of beads! I thought at the time it was the coolest thing I had seen.
However, Lafayette, LA was even more crazy this last weekend. All schools and colleges have been out since last Friday and start school back up tomorrow for Mardi Gras break. We got there for the end of the parade and there were so many more beads and so many more people. The costumes, floats, decorations, and money that went into these were extravagant! I will for sure be in New Orleans next year, it's an experience I want to do just once!