Beaux Kneauxs: One Month Ago: Episode IV, Part B "Keep your Eye on the Prize and Prom Pictures"

This is the final installment of my DC Mardi Gras experience. Hold onto your hats, boys and girls.

Jody and I had to be downstairs (in our tuxedos) by 7pm on Saturday night so that we could immediately change out of our tuxedos and into our krewe costumes. This was my first time parading in any form for Mardi Gras so I was a little apprehensive as to what was going to happen. As we are lining up to make our first entrance into the ballroom, Jody says, "This first trip is just for show and you don't want to be stuck on the ballroom floor while they introduce all the queens and princesses because it's boring. You will be stuck just sitting on the floor with no food or drink. So, it's like musical chairs.....you need to get back to the door before it shuts or you are SOL. Keep your eye on the prize." Those last words were stuck in my head as I made my way around the ballroom floor.

Everyone is dressed in krewe gear so you can easily lose the person you are with or get lost without a lifeline. Both happened to me. I make one lap around the parading area and decide that I need to go again. BIG MISTAKE. As I come around the final turn of lap 2, I see the door start to close. It was kinda like watching the draw bridge go up on the castle in the movies and Robin Hood or Sir Lancelot is racing to get across it or risk falling into the moat. Except that I ain't Kevin Costner or Richard Gere. Anywho I start running towards the aisle to get to the door when a Lieutenant in the Krewe yells, "Get down! Everyone down!." The music stopped and I had no chair. Ironically, I got to sit on the ground.

The worst part was that after I gave up the dream of getting through the door, Plan B was to get to Matthew's box so he could at least feed me and give me drinks. I was short by two boxes. So close...yet so far away.

The silver lining was the the Band from Tiger Land made a first time appearance (and surprise appearance) at DC Mardi Gras. If I had made it through the door, I wouldn't have seen that. It was pretty cool. I cheer for LSU in everything because I have friends and family that our alums or huge supporters of the school. However, watching grown men bark and hump the wall when the band played the fight song makes me want to cheer for Florida. I do admire the passion---probably no different than watching grown men cry when Bobby Knight walks in a room.

The queens and princesses were introduced and I got back into the room to prepare for the actual parade.

I very much enjoyed parading. I ran out of throws way too quick but that was because I nailed a few princesses with 6 stuffed animals and I gave a 70 year old women everything on my arm. Her reaction was priceless.

After the parade, there are 7 call out dances in which the krewe members "call out" women in the crowd for a dance and present them with a gift after the song is over. Those were fun. However, Matthew made fun of Jody and I for rotating between JSH and Mollie for the first 4 dances. So, I got to dance with his mother on Dance 5.

We cutout after the 5th call out dance and headed back to the hotel lobby to conclude our evening. All in all, the evening (and weekend) ended with a wimper. We were out until 1:30 but really didn't drink that much. Matthew, JSH, and I posed for "prom pictures" to document our time at DC Mardi Gras. Actually, the night did end with an interesting story.

JSH and Mollie ordered a few pizzas, water, appetizers, and beer to our room as we were getting ready to keep us all nourished for the long night ahead. There was no formal meal at the parade.

When Mollie and Jody got back to the room, they pushed the leftovers out into the hall because the room smelled like pizza.

The people in the room next to us came home a few minutes later and the following statements were heard through our door (per Mollie):

Pizza! Suuweeet! Well, if they aren't going to eat it, someone should.

They took all the leftover pizza and beer into their room for a midnight feast.

The sad thing is that I would expect this from some college kids or Blackwelder. But, it was a middle-aged couple who attended the night's events with us. The vision of an older couple in a tuxedo and ball gown stealing leftover room service makes me laugh.

You stay classy, Louisiana.

Jody and I getting ready---James Bond we aren't