Mardi Gras in NOVA

All hail to the Beatles? The King of the Krewe of Louisiana was named Paul McCartney. Was it my two glasses of wine from Harry's Tap Room (who, by the way, ends a happy hour at 6pm?), or is the funniest thing to you too?

I met Sassy, District Belle, and I-66 at Harry's just after 6pm for some pre-drinkin'. After I-66 left, we were joined by two other girls. two middle-aged men were seated next to our group at the bar and wrapped in beads. I noticed that District Belle and Molly both had beads on from prior Mardi Gras celebrations. "Hi. Would it be possible to bother ya'll for 3 beads? Two of us have them, but three of us are bead-less." I assumed since they were older and married (wedding rings), they'd be more polite. "Well, what will you do for the beads?" I was taken for a second. Yuck. "Um, well, I'm from Mobile where Mardi Gras originated. We don't do anything for beads down there." "Well," the dirtier of the two men smiled, "I've been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and I know there are girls willing to do things for these beads." We all had our noses scrunched up trying to get out of the conversation. "Well, you should keep your beads. I'm sure you're bound to find someone tonight who wants them that badly." We exited as quickly as possible. Yuck yuck double yuck!

We stopped at Starbucks so a couple of the gals could spike coffees with Bailey's they'd brought along. Then, we headed to Wilson Boulevard for the Clarendon parade.

I guess I'm a Mardi Gras snob. Beads suck. I want moon pies and candy and fancy music. The scaled-down parade wasn't bad, though it was more like an advertisement for local Clarendon bars. Whitlow's, Iota, and more hosted makeshift floats created out of open bed trucks. We ended up catching a ton of beads before it started to rain, then we stepped back under the Whole Foods awning to watch the rest of the parade.

We ended up covered in beads and headed to Whitlow's for a post-parade celebration. Though there was a live band, the crowd seemed to be reserved. Considering that it was a Tuesday night and raining out, it was easy to see why the energy was lower than I'd hoped. Around 10pm, I hopped on the Metro and returned to DC. Luckily, I'd stored away a moon pie in my fridge. An excellent dinner for Fat Tuesday indeed.

Hope you got it all out of your system before lent. Does anyone else who's not Catholic, like me, feel a bit guilty not abstaining from something during lent? Just wondering.