Colorful ‘krewe’ floats, masked celebrators and foot-stomping jazz music makes New Orleans the place to be for Carnival celebrations on Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is a celebration that has made New Orleans famous, and even after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 this city still shows it has a true party spirit. French for Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras refers to the practice of the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Christian Lenten season, which starts the next day on Ash Wednesday. Long ago related popular practices started becoming associated with celebrations, called Carnival, before the fasting and religious obligations of Lent, such as wearing masks and costumes, dancing, and parades. These traditions still happen today, and thus New Orleans Carnival celebrations start on the Twelfth Night (January 6) and go until Ash Wednesday, culminating with a big party and parade on Mardi Gras.

When you go into town, be sure to don on the traditional carnival colors of purple (for justice), green (for faith), and gold (for power) and head to one of the many parades that fill the festive streets. As the parades roll by, join in the scramble to pick up the treats and souvenirs tossed from the floats that make their way down St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street. While you’re at it, start your own collection of the strings of plastic beads and ‘doubloon’ coins that have become a signature trademark of this event. Be sure to take a moment to admire the ‘masking’ Mardi Gras ‘Indians’ trying to outshine each other with their feathers and sequined costumes. Some of their handmade headdresses can weigh over 100lbs!

Since it is ‘Fat Tuesday’ don’t forget to eat! Dine on the Cajun flavors of authentic shrimp creole and finish up with a big slice of traditional kingcake covered in purple, green and gold icing for dessert (don’t be alarmed if you find a miniature plastic baby inside…it’s good luck). Away from the parades you can spot bizarre costumes and revel in the party atmosphere of Bourbon Street in New Orleans’ frilly, cast-iron decorated French Quarter, which is an adults-only type of atmosphere. The garden district of St. Charles is more of a family area, so stake out a spot under a shady oak tree for a picnic and a day of fun. Be sure to bring a big bag to catch all the goodies the kids pick up from the parade! There are also some parades in suburban areas, such as Metairie, only 10 minutes outside of New Orleans. Metairie hosts a Caesar Parade the Saturday before Mardi Gras weekend, which is the same parade that Disneyworld features on Mardi Gras day.

Regardless of your interests, traveling to New Orleans for the eccentric Mardi Gras celebration is an experience that you will not soon forget!

A trip to New Orleans, Louisiana would be nothing without jazz and gumbo! And there’s no better place to get it in late April than at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival! This mega-event, also known as JazzFest, stretches over two weekends and brings hundreds of big name performers like Aretha Franklin and Van Morrison to its stages at the historic Fair Grounds Race Course, along with a mix of local performers and bands that pack the Bourbon Street bars into the wee hours of the morning. Begun in 1970 to commemorate the great heritage of jazz in New Orleans, this festival has expanded into nearly all genres of music, offering something for everyone with any sort of musical taste and preference. In addition to the music, there is also an abundance of culture and food scattered throughout the festival site. Artwork, collectable posters, and works of craftsmanship are offered for sale along with some of the most fabulous food you will find anywhere in the world. During the day there are two cooking stages at the Fair Grounds Grandstand demonstrating New Orleans’ rich culinary history, offering samples of signature dishes from celebrated chefs of the area. Be sure to bring your appetite and your ticket for some of the best cultural entertainment this city has to offer!

Continuing our post from Wednesday, here are 4 more New Orleans must-see sights:

National World War II Museum
Learn a lesson in history at the National World War II Museum (National D-Day Museum). From the beaches of Normandy to the sands of Iwo Jima, the museum’s exhibits blend personal accounts, artifacts, documents, photographs, and never-before-seen film footage that tells the stories of the amphibious landings that made victory in World War II possible.

St. Louis Cathedral
Visit St. Louis Cathedral, the oldest active cathedral in the U.S. and one of only 15 minor basilicas in the country. Established in 1720, it towers over Jackson Square and is an important historic and religious symbol for this predominantly Catholic city. Tours depart from the gift shop regularly.

Streetcars
Ride a New Orleans streetcar, the oldest continuously running street railway in the U.S. There are two streetcar lines in New Orleans—St. Charles and Riverfront—and rides highlight some of the city’s major sites.

Magazine Street
Shop antique stores, browse art galleries, and visit unique shops and boutiques on Magazine Street.

When traveling the Southern United States, here are some of the must-see New Orleans sights:

Preservation Hall
Drop your money in the hat and head into one of the country’s time-honored institutions to experience real New Orleans jazz at Preservation Hall.

Café du Monde
Give your tastebuds a treat at Café du Monde, a New Orleans favorite. Relax at this sidewalk café in the French Market and enjoy the specialty of the house—fresh made beignets, square French-style doughnuts lavishly covered with powdered sugar.

Mid City Bowling Lanes
Don’t miss the world-famous Mid City Bowling Lanes, the only place to find Rock ‘N’ Bowl. Locals and tourists alike go to this 18-lane center to bowl and dance until the wee hours of the morning. Given the vibrant atmosphere, it doesn’t take long for bowlers to start doing the Twist on the approach.

Check back on Friday for Part #2 of our New Orleans not-to-be-missed sights. Start planning your Southern United States vacation today!

Now that we’ve gotten our fill of Yosemite National Park, let’s move on and soak up the rich, vibrant culture of the American south.

Gumbo is on our menu for the next couple of weeks, and it’s the best down-home recipe around. Our Southern US vacation will also be full to the brim of jazz, country and musical heritage. We’ll stop by Memphis and the World Championship Barbecue-Cooking Contest for a unique southern flavor. In New Orleans, we can dance and jive at the Jazz & Heritage Festival. And if we still haven’t gotten enough, let’s boogie on over to the famous Mardi Gras celebration and truly become immersed in the culture of our Southern US tour in the humble hospitality of the Big Easy.

Pack your bags, friends, and don’t forget your dancing shoes. We’ll delight in Southern cuisine, take part in all the best festivals, and come home a little countrified.

Whether we boogie on back with beads from Mardi Gras, gumbo from New Orleans, or a souvenir from the King’s pad at Graceland, our Southern US vacation is sure to be an extraordinary quest.

When you vacation in Yosemite National Park you are sure to encounter the rugged beauty of the California and the abundance of waterfalls.

When traveling to California for a National Park vacation here are some must-see sights of Yosemite:

Big Trees Tram Tour
Take the Big Trees Tram Tour for a fascinating excursion to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. Share the wonder of this ancient grove as you hear about the history these magnificent trees have seen. Stand in awe of the Grizzly Giant, the oldest tree in the grove, and its many neighbors that tower over 200 feet tall.

Ahwahnee Hotel
Visit the Ahwahnee Hotel, a National Historic Landmark and one of the most distinct resort hotels in North America. Known for its magnificent façade and architecture, the Ahwahnee was specifically designed to highlight its natural surroundings. The destination of queens and presidents alike, you’ll enjoy strolling through the lobby, having afternoon tea, or relaxing with a drink at the bar.

Ansel Adams Gallery
Spend time at the Ansel Adams Gallery. This photographer and environmentalist spent much of his life photographing the beauty of Yosemite. See his works, watch a film about the artist, or participate in a photography workshop or camera walk.

By far the most powerful symbol for Yosemite is Half Dome, the titanic half-egg of granite that presides over the entire valley from its eastern end, and whose sheer, 4700-foot-high face looks like it was sliced by a colossal knife.  For years, even its humped back was thought to be un-climbable – until, in 1875, one of the first settlers in the California region, a retired sailor named George Anderson, decided to tackle it.

He splashed tar over his trousers for adhesion and drove iron bolts into the slope every six feet to make a successful ascent.  On learning of this conquest, the naturalist John Muir “made haste to the Dome,” he wrote many years later in his book The Yosemite, to pull himself up by Anderson’s rope, “not only for the pleasure of climbing, but to see what I might learn.”  In 1919, the Sierra Club set cables on the route, and ever since it has been the signature climb in the park, despite its difficulty for average visitors.  (In 2007, a Japanese tourist slipped and fell 300 feet to his death).

In order to avoid the crowds, climb midweek or later in the day, when the path up Half Dome is all but deserted.  Reaching the top will leave you exhausted but exultant.  From the sheer lip, the sunshine pours like liquid gold into the valley below.  It’s no wonder that Muir raved so: “A grander surface and a grander standpoint… could hardly have been found in all the Sierra,” he recalled, as clouds “of pure pearl luster” swirled miraculously around the valley below his feet.

In a world now filled with high-tech marvels, pure nature can still amaze us – at least, the view from the rim of the Yosemite Valley never fails to elicit cries of glee.  This has always been the case: Back in 1869, a penniless Scottish-born wanderer named John Muir, who had walked 200 miles from San Francisco, first peered down into that yawning expanse and let his own show of delight: “I shouted and gesticulated in a wild burst of ecstasy,” Muir recalled later, upon beholding cliffs “all a-tremble with the thundering tones of falling water.”  With its sheer walls and granite towers “like the spires of Gothic cathedrals,” Yosemite impressed the young Muir deeply, and he swore to explore its every nook and cranny.

He ended up living in the remote valley for several years, surviving on his wits like a Victorian flower child, an experience that eventually led him to become the most famous nature writer of his era and America’s pioneer environmentalist.

Muir took up residence in a rustic log shack over a flowing river in Yosemite, working as a freelance mountain guide, and spending every spare minute climbing  granite mountains.  He would gaze in rapture at its waterfalls, make detailed studies of the delicate forest flowers and fill endless notebooks with observations that exploded with passion for nature.

Within a decade, the “wild man” John Muir was being recognized by American literati as a self-taught genius, and by the end of the century he had become the top spokesman for conservation in the U.S.: His many lyrical books on Yosemite were instrumental in establishing this remote wilderness as a National Park in 1890.

Today, the name of John Muir is emblazoned all over the state of California – it is given to high schools, state forests, hiking trails, parks, roads, even medical centers – but his greatest memorial remains the awe-inspiring landscape of Yosemite itself.

This summer we return to America’s National Parks. During our last National Parks vacation series we traveled to Yellowstone, home of Old Faithful Geyser.  On this trip we will explore the stunning natural wonders of Yosemite National Park.

Join us over the next few weeks as we discover one of the first wilderness parks in the United States.  Yosemite is known not only for its abundance of waterfalls, but also for the striking beauty of nearly vertical granite walls including the famous Half Dome.