Mardi Gras — D Dennison Does Mardi Gras in New Orleans [PICTURES]

Mardi Gras or Carnival is a lot more in depth than any of us north of Louisiana might think. Recently I went to New Orleans and kicked off Mardi Gras season and I have some great pictures.

Mardi Gras is a whole season, not just one Tuesday in February. True February 17, 2015 is Fat Tuesday, but the season started two weeks ago. Mardi Gras is a season filled with parades, parties and closed businesses. It is a big, Big deal in NOLA!

People in New Orleans take this carnival stuff very seriously. It is a great time for family and friends to come together and relax while getting involved in their communities.

The parades consist of great organizations with themed parade floats, royalty and marching bands.

I joined the Krewe of Kleopatra with 700 members and my James joined the Krewe of Alla, you have to be invited to join a Krewe. We are very fortunate to have great friends in New Orleans who thought that we would enjoy being in a parade, neither of us had ever even been to New Orleans.

The throws or beads and plush are a big part of the float participants and picking themed beads and plush to throw. Hundreds of dollars can and are spent on the different throws. We got to experience "bead" shopping and let me tell you it was crazy. So many different beads,not just the typical green, purple and gold beads, but beads with characters on them or other crazy things like flying pigs, banana's and dice. And let's not forget the plush, the stuffed animals and such. I am so glad and honored that we got to do this.

We even made time for a stop at Cafe Du Monde for some iced Chicory coffee and beignets.

Mardi Gras celebrations came to New Orleans in the 1930's with the parades appearing in the early 1940's. The parades and celebrations last about two weeks, usually kicking off the first Friday of February and wrapping up on Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.