mellicious | Mardi Gras Madness

There's going to be a carnival on the Seawall this weekend. I don't just mean Carnival-with-a-capital-C, as in Mardi Gras, although there's that too - but there's also a real carnival with rides and everything, which is a new thing, or at least, in this location it is. There's a big empty two-block stretch of Seawall where they tore an old crappy motel down last summer, and they've been putting rides up all week. It's sort of interesting to watch, since I drive by it twice a day. The other morning the frame of the Ferris wheel was up, but there were no cars on it. When I came back that afternoon the cars were on. I'm curious to see what else changes.

It will also be interesting to see how Mardi Gras goes this weekend. The weather's supposed to be bad. (I think freezing rain was mentioned.) They were expecting a larger-than-usual turnout, I believe, what with things in New Orleans still in flux, but this might keep it down again. I imagine that anybody with hotel reservations with probably still show up, but I would think bad weather would cut into the day-trippers from Houston a good deal. At least this is only the first weekend; the Momus parade, which is the big one, isn't until a week from Saturday.

(Not that I normally go anywhere near Mardi Gras, you understand. For me it exists mostly as a traffic annoyance. We probably won't go further than the store or the movie theater on Saturday.)