FRIGHT NIGHT, NEW ORLEANS STYLE

If you can't be in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, a visit to this vibrant city during Halloween is the next best thing. Here's a suggested itinerary:

Start your prowl in the French Quarter...

Maybe shop for a mask...

Drop in at Reverend Zombie's VooDoo Shop...

Visit a Tarot Card reader to see if the future holds love, riches or adventure--or maybe ALL of the above!

Grab a bite to eat at an Uptown 5-star bistro where filming of Gene Simmons' (of the band Kiss) "reality show" is under way... (No, I had never heard of him either!)

End the night before with a Hurricane at Pat O'Brien's.

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Beginning that last-day-of-October day with a daylight stroll through New Orleans' most famous of its "Cities of the Dead," St. Louis Cemetery No. One (where the Voo Doo Queen Marie Laveau is reportedly buried), should kick-start your night to howl with some eerie reminders.

Haves...

Have nots.

Marie Laveau has many fans and followers; you can't miss her burial chamber.

Then maybe score last-minute Halloween regalia at a neighborhood street corner mobile costume shop!

Once the moon has risen, grab a front-row "seat" at the corner of Bourbon and Royal Streets for a parade of the weird, freaky and very creative.

His head is covered with a real pumpkin!

Heidi's Devil's Advocate costume kept them guessing.

In search of Mom?

Well, they were in luck. Last seen in North Pole, Alaska these two spa rats (soon on their way to Afghanistan) were reunited with Moms Calicia and Pat (in their Mom costumes) at long last!

If this guy's costume was "Peace of Sheet,"

Then his buddy's costume must be??

For some more great views of party animals in imaginative costumes I recommend a visit to Heidi Young's travelswithrylie.blogspot.com/