Welcome to New Orleans, Louisiana, home of Cajun cooking, mint juleps, and one incredibly wild celebration every February! Keeping with our "family-site" theme, and because we're fresh out of beads, here's some G-rated photos from the annual celebration of decadence that is Fat Tuesday.

Here on Bourbon Street, in the heart of the French Quarter, you'll find 101 different ways to sin... The beans, of course, behaved themselves.

While under French rule, New Orleans began celebrating Mardi Gras in the 1700's. They had a pretty good time at it until around 1790 or so, when Spain took over and banned it. First the Inquisition, now this??? It wasn't until 1823, 20 years after the U.S. bought the deed to New Orleans in the Louisiana Purchase, that the annual Mardi Gras balls were reinstated. USA! USA! USA!

To be overly-specific (and you know how we love that around here...), Mardi Gras is actually just one day - Mardi Gras Day - which is always the day before Ash Wednesday. When folks say they are coming to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, they don't usually mean they are coming for one day of public drunkenness, but for many days of intoxication. To be even more precise, they are coming for Carnival in New Orleans. So there.

Now, you'll have to play a game of "Where's Waldo?" to find the beans in this photo of Mardi gras revelers, but trust me, they're out there, having a good time, and hopefully keeping their label pulled down all the way....

Speaking of which, the big question is, "What about all of the Mardi Gras nudity I hear about?" Well, you won't find our beans participating in that kind of behavior, but yes, it does happen. Partial nudity and flashing, while not encouraged, has become a part of the French Quarter scene.

While its said that police will usually ignore men and women lifting shirts or dropping pants in the Quarter, this same behavior will get you arrested in other parts of town, and you'll stay in jail until at least Ash Wednesday. And I think it goes without saying that you do NOT want to spend any time in the New Orleans drunk tank.

But there is more to New Orleans than parties, confetti, beads, voodoo, and rivers of green "ick" running through the streets. For example, check out this next photo.

Life is like a box of chocolate beans... From the amount of retail space in this photo, I'd say that Mr. Gump wasn't so stupid after all... Good 'ol Forrest has gone commercial, and has opened his own Bubba Gump Shrimping Company restaurant and emporium. According to their Web site, they serve 11 types of shrimp, but alas - no black beans. Here's Bill, the beans, and one of their many licensed sweatshirts.