Monthly Archives: January 2020

The Blizzard Blast

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Obstacle races have been popular in many parts of the world for a while now. Here in New Hampshire, there is no off-season. This is The Blizzard Blast organized by The United Way of Greater Nashua. This was a 3-4 mile run with 29 obstacles. It was an extremely friendly crowd. While some are serious competitors in obstacle races, most are out to have a good time with family or friends. The United Way gets local businesses to support the event through sponsorship and about 200 volunteers make it all happen. This weekend, we had over 500 people run the event. There were lots and lots of smiles. Oh, and I was a volunteer, not a runner.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

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One of the busier tourist attractions during our visit was St. Louis Cemetery No 1. Why the attraction to a cemetery? In New Orleans, the water table is very high. Bodies cannot be buried without risking they will resurface at some point. The remedy is to inter bodies in mausoleums. This cemetery is the oldest in the city. The mausoleums are all different and there are great stories about many of the people buried here. Visitors must enter with an organized tour and tour guides vie for the best spots for their guests. It’s worth a visit. We didn’t do this but you can take a horse-drawn carriage up from Jackson Square for a tour of the cemetery. It avoids a long walk and is a cool way to see the city.

Kern Studios – Inside Mardi Gras

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Kern Studios is best known for creating floats for the Mardi Gras parades. Their factory offers tours and can even be rented out for functions. They discuss how Mardi Gras is celebrated in NOLA as well as the design and building process. Because this is a working factory, you get to see their artists and staff creating and assembling floats (see below). The best part of the tour (aka Mardi Gras World) is that you get to roam around the warehouse afterward taking photos. This was among our favorite things that we did in New Orleans.

Cafe Du Monde

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I wanted an atypical image of this historic and popular cafe. Everyone gets photos of either the wonderful coffee and beignets or the outside awning. I was impressed by the waitstaff and how busy they were lining up to get coffee for their customers. It hints at just how busy the cafe is without showing the long line of people waiting to get in or the size of the dining area.

And for those of you looking for a photo of coffee and beignets, this one’s for you: