Mardi Gras Debauchery: A Discussion with Dream Daughter, KAYLIE FENTON (ft. Megan)!

MARDI GRAS MAYHEM MEETS EMPTY-NESTING REAL-TALK WITH OUR AMAZING DAUGHTER, KAYLIE FENTON!

(And a guest starring call-in from Megan!)

Buckle up, because the latest Plate & Ponder Empty Nesting episode is an absolute RIDE! 

We sat down with our daughter for a no-holds-barred Father-Daughter debate on New Orleans and Mardi Gras… and things got WILD fast. 

We’re spilling it ALL:
 The jaw-dropping floats and bead-chasing chaos.
 Topless women, drunken idiots, overdoses, and the unclassy party side nobody talks about.
 Fraternity (NOT FRAT!) date parties, Mississippi River inner-tube floating madness, and those “what happens on Bourbon stays on Bourbon” nights
BUT ALSO…
 The CLASSY side — mind-blowing restaurants, killer bars & clubs, relaxed cable car days gliding through the city, and the hidden new neighborhoods you HAVE to explore.

It’s hilarious, honest, a little shocking, and 100% the kind of raw parent-kid conversation every empty-nester needs! 

One minute we’re laughing till we cry… the next we’re debating whether Mardi Gras is worth the hangover. 

You’re gonna want to listen with your own adult kids — then immediately text them “WE’RE GOING TO NOLA!” 

 Drop a  in the comments if you’ve survived Mardi Gras… or if this episode just convinced you to book tickets! 

#MardiGrasDebate #NewOrleansVibes #EmptyNesting #PlateAndPonder #FamilyPodcast #NOLA2026

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Oh yeah. It is a do the doothy day here on Playton Ponder with Jen and Chris Fenton. We are in 50 countries, 5-0, around the world, and we're looking for 51, 52, and 53, because today we have one of the greatest guests I could ever imagine, which is even up there with my wife Jen Fenton, who is not with us. But in her place is the great Kaylee Ryan Fenton. All 19 years of her, freshly home for spring break from Tulani University Tulane, the Green Waves. Give a shout out, Kayleigh Fenton.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Um, hi guys. I'd like to shout out all of my Tulane friends.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Wait, all of them?

SPEAKER_01 0:44

All of them.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Well, you know what? For that, we gotta do, we gotta, we gotta get off the music here, which I had on. We're gonna stop that, right? Oh no, it's still going. Wait, what's going on with the music here? Oh, it's finishing up. Oh, I love it. Okay, and now we're gonna get to the applause button so that we can go. Who's who are we saying hello to?

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Um, my Tulane friends, but specifically um Francie and Brighty for letting us all stay at their houses this spring break.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Shout out to Brighty and Francie. Anne.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Well, and the rest of them, but and the rest of them.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Who's the rest of them? Give some other names.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Um Brighty, Francie, shout out to Goldie.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Goldie House, yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Shout out to Bryce, shout out to Emmy. She's here all the way from New York.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

You know what would be great about Emmy? Not done with my yeah, is if she won an Emmy. And the Emmy goes to Emmy. No, I mean, come on, that's a good dad show.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Give me some props.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

That was good.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Okay, go on. Who else?

SPEAKER_01 1:51

And shout out to Sienna and shout out to Sam and shout out to Shayna. And I think that's all of them.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Did I get it all in there? I didn't. All right, game on. We gave lots of props, lots of shout outs to a lot of good friends. Um running the spectrum, high school and college, right? I mean, what was the high school name that you uh what was it called? Mira.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Miracosta.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

Miracosta High School here in Manhattan Beach. Um, so tell me, why are you even here right now? What's going on?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Um, it's my spring break.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Ooh, that gets a little okay. What else? Um You need some oh you need dinner tonight. Because I do. Because you did come through it. We we you came through briefly to say hello, and then where'd you go off to?

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Yes. So I came back to Los Angeles, and then my friends and I we went to Palm Springs. Um, and then after Palm Springs, we drove straight to Newport. Um, and then we stayed in Newport, and then now I am back home in Manhattan Beach.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Is that does home in Manhattan Beach get a or does it get a no?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

It definitely gets an applause.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

All right, that's what I love. Okay, so tell me about uh Tulani, Tulane. We we you know we have our own little code words sometimes, but Tulane University is home to or it's in New Orleans, that's its home. And what crazy event occurred before spring break?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Mardi Gras.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Now, what is Mardi Gras all about? Because your dad and your mom have never been to Mardi Gras.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Well, Mardi Gras celebrates um a certain holiday.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

What is the holiday? Um Fat Tuesday or something like that?

SPEAKER_01 3:29

It's for Lent.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Oh, it's for Lent.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Yes. So for Tulane students at least, we celebrate it from that Thursday or a Thursday to uh like sunrise on a Tuesday. Okay. So we have a big celebration, but I know that the rest of New Orleans celebrates for like a month. So um basically it was kind of just a big party for those days. Didn't get much school done, but we also didn't have school on Monday or Tuesday, which was very nice.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

I love the idea of just like is it groovy jazz music that's playing during Mardi Gras or is it like crazy stuff?

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Um both.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

Like an Austin Powers? Like no, it's just okay. So tell me, okay. When I'm there, I do see remnants of like what you think is a Mardi Gras. Like you you're you're walking down the streets. Um, what's that main the drag that sort of separates the French Quarter from the rest of New Orleans? Um the the street where like the four seasons is on at the very end. What's the name of that street?

SPEAKER_01 4:28

I don't know the name of the street.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Okay, you don't know the name of the street, but I feel like there's there's um there's the uh Ritz-Carlton and uh St. Regis and all that stuff, and and you'll see every once in a while these these floats go by just on a random night. Like what's the deal with that?

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Just well, there's like always things to celebrate, I guess. New Orleans is always celebrating something, so there's always floats, always parades.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

But um for Mardi Gras, um I'm gonna be honest, I only went to the parades once, but but that's also because like everybody and their brother comes into town and it's just chaos, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Yeah, well, also like I well, maybe this isn't the same for a lot of people, but I think for my friend group especially, um, we stayed more on campus for Mardi Gras, which I am assuming well, I know a lot of other freshmen were doing because a lot of the fraternities were having big events and stuff. So we didn't really venture into the heart of New Orleans that much, but I know we will maybe in later years.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

So when you go into the heart, uh so Mardi Gras, the the center of it all is Bourbon Street, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:34

And Bourbon Street is just not necessarily like you can go to Bourbon, but the parades don't like typically, or at least the ones I went to were not on bourbon, they were on another street, and there's like people who camp out there for like hours waiting for these floats to get good seats, and these like giant floats come by, they're they all have themes, like there was a crawfish one, there was like a declaration of independence float, there was all these floats, and the people on the floats will throw things from them. So obviously they'll throw beads, but they'll throw like random things like plastic tongs or like shirts or like stuffed animal lobsters, like random things.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

So and then what they're throwing them because what? Like just people are screaming, or there's like women topless up at the like they're up at the balcony or something like that, and they're all of the above, but there's also a ton of children there, so they'll throw it to the children. Wait, there's children and there's topless people at the same time?

SPEAKER_01 6:32

No, mm, I guess, but there's yeah, I guess. But uh the topless people I think are pretty respectful around the children.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

Oh, they are?

SPEAKER_01 6:40

They're like they're they're they won't go next to children if they're planning on being topless.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Okay, so what like what wait have you been on a float before?

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Um, no. Oh, it costs a lot of money to be on a float.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Some people pay this could be really inaccurate. This is just what I heard. I heard that to get on a float sometimes it costs like upwards of a thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Which could be really, really wrong. Also, some of the stuff that I'm saying could really be inaccurate. It's just from my experience.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

So wait, so okay, so you're going from hearsay, as they say, or there's some rumors about like what it costs. But I wouldn't be, I wouldn't be shocked if it was like a thousand dollars just to be on some.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

I would not be shocked either. The those floats are also like they are massive and they are decked out and so detailed.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

Oh my god, what about the one we we saw when you and I were walking Bourbon Street during the day? I was like, let's just go see Bourbon Street during the day. And you're like, You sure you want to go see Bourbon Street? It was a lot of drunk people with St. Paddy. It was like a St.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Patty's Day float, and then an old man fell down.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Yeah, he was drinking a little too much, but that he's okay. I I hope so. We picked him up and and brushed off the blood off of his face a little bit, and he went on his merry way and had another cocktail, I think.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

He was okay, he was having fun.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

The float he was with was pretty crazy. It had like an indoor air conditioned space.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Yeah, but that float was nothing compared to the Mardi Gras ones. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

So are the floats longer or are they still sort of the same size? They just are more elaborate.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

They're longer, they're bigger, they're more elaborate, there's like far more people on them.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

And then where where they start where in the garden district and they go all the way to the French Quarter?

SPEAKER_01 8:11

I do not know. Okay, so um I to get to mine, um, one of the fraternities was having like had buses to like.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

I'm proud of you for calling it a fraternity. I knew you were gonna call me a fern. Very much.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Yeah, so they had like buses, so I was not like in an Uber giving instructions on where to go or anything. So I kind of just arrived at a destination.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

And that's what was happening? People were going crazy when you got to the destination. Was it a crazy Mardi Gras fiesta going on?

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Yeah, it was cool. A lot of people had been there for a while.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

How do people dress? When they're at Tulane, they're college kids, they're going to um, you know, a Mardi Gras party. How are they dressed? Are they dressed in crazy costumes with masks or are they dressed scantily?

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Well, Tulane, Mardi Gras, I think the outfits are way different than normal New Orleans Mardi Gras. Like Tulane, Mardi Gras, you don't really wear much. Um, and yeah, that's that.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

But I mean you wear a lot, but like the average person doesn't wear much. Is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Yeah, I definitely wore a lot.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Good. Um that's like the ground chairing.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

But the like normal New Orleans, um, it's a lot of like purple, green, gold colors, a lot of like um like sparkly tops and stuff. But yeah, Tulane students, um, I think sometimes we get judged by the New Orleans locals.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Well, and what is somebody like I mean, like GJ or or uh like um Jackson Strokey, like shout out GJ, he told me he listens to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Does he really?

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Oh, poodles. Oh my god, I love that crowd noise.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Ah and shout out Jackson. I don't know if he listens, but Jackson Strokey.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Um and shout out to Hudson Waldorf, too.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Uh shout out to Hudson Waldorf.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

So so um, friend of the show, he's been on the show. Actually, he's been sitting in the very chair that you're there, and we talked about duck fromage, which is apparently a very um very big uh delicacy up in Montreal. Oh yeah, so and and it doesn't mean cheese from a duck, it means duck with cheese.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Okay, so anyway, on a side, that was a side note. Oh, and it actually, um, where your brother goes to school, Montreal is Quebecois, which is also French, and New Orleans is Creole, which is also French. And yes, you can't stay off your phone long enough to call it. No, sorry, I was getting a call.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

I was getting a call.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Well, who's calling? Wait, pick up the call, pick it up, and let's hear who that is. They should they should say something on on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Megan, you're currently on the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

Megan! Oh my gosh, wait, I'm hanging up then. No, you can't hang up. You gotta stay on, you're on the podcast. Yes, we're podcasting live. Tell us what you're doing right now.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

Oh my gosh, I was just saying homework.

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Well, there's 50 countries around the world listening to you right now.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Oh my goodness. Hi, hi everyone. Hope we're gonna have a great Wednesday night.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Do you want to give a shout-out to anybody?

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Oh, do I want to give a shout-out? We should give a shout-out to uh shout out, Kenny Sunson.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Thank you. Oh, well done. Goodbye, Megan. Thanks for joining us later.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

That's a quick call, but we'll give her some more crap. There you go. Megan was on. The crowd loves it. Um, all right. So tell me a little bit. Okay, here's the thing that I think is really interesting is that if I were applying to Tulane and had never been to New Orleans, all I heard was Bourbon Street, right? So then you're going, when I get to Tulane, I'm gonna go to Bourbon Street like every day of every minute. I'm gonna be there because Bourbon Street is all I've heard about and so epic. So what when you get there and you go to Bourbon Street for the first time, like what is the opinion of it?

SPEAKER_01 11:43

We definitely went to Bourbon a lot more first semester. Um now, like we'll go for like date parties or something, but bourbon, well, I guess it's uh nowhere you want to be if you aren't in the mood to go out. It's not somewhere you want to be if um you don't want to be around a lot of people or yeah, but I think that first semester we were there a lot. It was so new, it was like so shiny, and like we're like, whoa, this is amazing, but it's definitely a little sketchy.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Um, I think and is it just because it it attracts people from all over? It it's got a little bit of that Las Vegas thing, so it can it attracts people from all over the country or maybe even all over the world, and and and sometimes they're there for I mean, there's like strip bars and there's crazy I mean you can drink 24-7, right? Did the bars ever close?

SPEAKER_01 12:34

No, they don't well like some of them are open definitely all day, all night. Some of them do close at very, very late hours, but yeah, it's definitely you see a lot. Um, I've seen someone OD. I've been there when there was a shooting, and I didn't even realize there was a shooting because there was so much going on.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Oh, that was right before the Super Bowl, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Yeah, I didn't even hear the gunshots because there was just so much going on. Um, but there are a few places that we go on bourbon that are so much fun and that are definitely more of the Tulane people crowd than like um maybe like older people or like New Orleans locals. So when we do go to Bourbon, we try to stay like at those places.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

So when what can you give a couple of the uh like if if there's a um a person that you're really excited about um looking at Tulane that should come there next year, where would you tell them to go if they wanted a taste of Bourbon Street the way you think they should see it, in a way that makes them want to go to Tulane? What would the bars be that you would recommend? That one with the person on the swing that swings outside the book.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Oh, yeah, the boot and scootin', you can ride a bowl there. The boot and scootin' boot and scootin'. You can ride a bowl there. Okay, but um the biggest one I like the best is the beach on bourbon. Shout out to that, it is so much fun. And typically when, because a lot of other schools will come to New Orleans for like their um formals or whatever. So there's always like a ton of um college kids there from different schools. I've run into people from my high school there from different schools. It's a very fun place to be when you're on bourbon.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

And Beach on Bourbon is the one that it has like the bar in the front, but then it's got sort of a tunnel into like a patio that's in the middle of everything.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Yeah, so it's got like a bar on the front, it's got like a patio in the middle, and then it's got like this indoor portion. There's like a stage and more bars in it. It's so fun.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

It sounds it was really loud, even when we were walking through there, like to get our um beignets. I think it was what, maybe noon or something, and it was just going off the charts. It was really good. Um, anyway, there and and we we came in, uh, come it came across a couple interesting characters that had interesting things to say to us as we were walking, walking down the street. But um, I I thought that was an interesting time to see Bourbon Street because you really got to see it without the crowds, but it was just as loud and crazy. It it just didn't have um all the people yet, but you could just imagine. Oh, although it did have the smell. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

I kind of think that bourbon in the daytime is like Disneyland, like you're on a roller coaster on Disneyland and they accidentally turn the lights on.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Like it's oh, like Space Mountain with the lights on.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Yeah, it's so fun. And um, we just had a date party that was like daytime bourbon.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

So a date party? No, oh a date party, not a day party, a darty.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Well, yeah, we have those two, but we just had one on bourbon and during the day, and it was a lot of fun. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

Who was your date?

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Um not gonna talk about this.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Oh, okay. Was I mean, was it a good date or no? It wasn't very good.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Not gonna talk about this.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

Oh, okay. All right, so it was she had a a fun date party um with uh maybe a good date or a not a good date. We don't know. It's gonna be a mystery that we will learn maybe five years from now in Plate and Ponder. Okay, possibly. Um, so it when you do have a date party there, what time does the party start? Like because everybody sleeps in on a it was it on a Saturday?

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Um yes.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Okay, so everybody sleeps in. So what time does the date party start?

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Um it started at like 2 p.m., I think.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

Okay, 2 p.m. And then how do you guys get to Bourbon Street? Wait, is there a charter bus or do you take the that um the cable car?

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Well, a lot of times for um like events like that, we will have buses, but for the specific one, we didn't, so we just ubered.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

Now, have you guys ever taken the cable car from the garden? And is that pretty fun? Is that like a party on wheels or no?

SPEAKER_01 16:08

No, well, it's fun if you have like a lot of time. Like if you are just like, I want to go to bourbon and like I don't know, you're you're you're not in a rush.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

You're like, hey, we got a couple beers.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Or for like, I mean, people have done that before, but my friends and I, if we use a cable car, it's like, oh, we want to make a day out of it, so we'll go on the cable car, we'll go get dinner, then maybe we'll go out. It's not really like if you're deciding that night, like, oh, I want to go to bourbon, we're gonna take the cable. Like, no, not really.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

Right. You want to get there a little faster. It on the cable car though, do they allow you to bring like cocktails on the cable car or are they strict about it? Like, how does that work?

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Um, everything in New Orleans is pretty not strict. Like, we have an open container policy or whatever. So you can carry alcohol like wherever and whenever. At least that's my experience. I mean, I know there's some Ubers that are like finish your drink before you get in, but that I think is just because they don't want people spilling or something.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Right. So now what are the key it's an interesting conversation because you know this place really well now after after being there for a semester and a half. Where you have the French Quarter, you go there a couple times, like it's not a normal hangout, but you guys go every once in a while. Then you have the garden district, or you what are the um bars by campus, right? There's the boot.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Yeah, there's the boot. There's um, well, I guess Avenhem's Fumps is like an Uber away, but very fun. There is Palms, which is fun.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Is that the one right next to Boot?

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Um, yeah, that's the one like not like yeah, like a block away.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

And they're both across the street from the police station.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Yeah, they're both they're both basically on campus and right by the police station.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

And then you're a Pi Fi, they're right sort of like a half block away from your sorority house, which is sort of cool.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Yes, um, which is very fun. Um, and then there is um well uh Rip TJ's TJ's was this place that had a special on Tuesdays, but it closed down. Wait, why'd it close down?

SPEAKER_02 17:51

What happened?

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Um I think they like didn't have a liquor license or something.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

Oh, yeah, that will get you every time. Yeah, it was really sad. Um, okay, then there we we were lucky enough to be invited to your parent weekend for Pi Fi, and we went to a like an area of town I had never been to because I've been to New Orleans a lot and we shot movies down there and I've been there for events and various other things, but I never went to that part of town where you guys had this party and was almost like in this, like it wasn't a warehouse district, but it was along the dike along the Mississippi River, right? The and and and it was like these old buildings that had bars in them, right? It was the in fact, we we were with somebody that looked like Jeffrey Epstein, and there were a bunch of kids that couldn't get into it and they were yelling, hey, don't let Jeffrey Epstein in. That was Fumps. That was oh, that was from wait, is that the place that closed down?

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Um, no, that's TJ's.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Oh, TJ's.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Yeah, and the other place that is like kind of cool is um Chop Yards, which is that was one of the other events that was going on that weekend.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

What was that by Frumps?

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Fumps, uh I don't really know.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

What's the part of town that Frumps is in? What's that called?

SPEAKER_01 18:56

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Is that the garden? That's not the garden district though.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

I I really don't. I kind of just like arrive at destinations. I don't really know.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

Okay, well, it was interesting because across the street is the dike that is supposedly supposed to hold back the Mississippi River from flooding everything. And Frumps, quite frankly, looked like it had been flooded before. In fact, I don't even know if it had a rainproof roof on it. It was pretty frumpy, if you ask me, but the beer tasted good and people were having a lot of fun and people were dancing on tables, and it was sort of mayhem. It was pretty crazy. Yeah, so anyway, that was really fun. And then what's that? You know, you might we uh I met up with you when I was down there for that conference, and we went, it was a warehouse district, right? Are there parties?

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Oh, yeah, that so there'll be like events there. So we have like DJs come sometimes and then they'll like go to some of those like event spaces. I think the one that we were at was the Republic.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

The Republic, yeah. And so that place looks like a anyway. The bottom line is if people are listening to this and haven't been to New Orleans, there is so much more to explore there than just Bourbon Street. It's almost yeah, it's almost like the like Las Vegas, there's the strip, but then there's all the other stuff. But quite frankly, New Orleans has history, it's got charm, it's got amazing food and restaurants, it's very authentic, it's been around for hundreds of years. Um, it's got the mighty Mississippi. Can you spell Mississippi?

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Uh M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I. Well, you know what about the Mississippi? What about it? Some of the fraternities will do um like uh floats down the uh Mississippi. I think it's the Mississippi. They'll like basically it they'll do it as like one of their date parties or whatever, but the guys will like ask some of the girls and then they'll all like get in like tubes and float in the river.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Oh, and drink beers and just hang out?

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

That sounds like you have to shower afterwards.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

I mean that that Mississippi does not look like the Caribbean or no, but you have to shower like all the time in New Orleans, it is so humid. Like we're always showering.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

Well, it is interesting that um outside of your dorm there is this grassy area and people are out there tanning, right? Because the UVs are pretty good there and the tanning is good in New Orleans.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

We tan everywhere, yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

But it does feel like it'd be really hot, like it's not near uh an ocean where you can jump in to cool.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

No, but we have a pool that we go to.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

Oh, is that the one over by the football stadium? That way, okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

So you can cool off and and and there's also like there's this one or two places, but I've only been to one of them. I don't know if the other one exists. But you can it's like basically this restaurant that has a pool, and you can go hang out at the pool, and then you like order food by the pool.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

Oh, that's pretty cool. All right, so all right, so that's Tulane. Like and and through all this time, did you go to class at all?

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

Okay, you did.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

And my GPA is very good.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Yeah, I know. I think I think we're very proud of you, actually. That's a very, very strong GPA. Um, well done. You're taking after your dad. No, not really. Actually, taking after your mom. Your dad did not have a good GPA. But I never let academics interfere with my education. But you need to have academics be number one. Um, what are you studying at between?

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Um psychology and real estate.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

Um, are you psychology me right now? You're going, what is wrong with my dad? Why does he do this? Podcast that's so weird. Um, and then okay, um, we'll wrap. This up. I want to hear what did everybody get excited about coming out to Los Angeles for spring break, or did everybody really want to go to like Mexico or Fort Lorreo or any of that other kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

So before Mardi Gras, we were like, oh, we're gonna do like the classic Cabo spring break, whatever. And then Mardi Gras happened and that like took years off our life, and we're like, we're not doing that.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

So we were like, um because you guys get actual days off for Mardi Gras, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Yeah. So um we were like, we're not gonna do Cabo. We kind of wanted to go home. Lucky for us, the majority of our friend group lives in LA. So we're like, this is awesome. We can hang out while we're all home. And um, we decided to also go to some of our friends' houses, like I said, in Palm Springs in Newport.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Is everybody that you're hanging out with from Tulane, other than Emmy's from New York City, but is everybody else from the LA area?

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Um you have some friends in Newport too, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:55

No. So well, one of my friends, Francie, she has a house um on Balboa Island, but she lives primarily like by UCLA.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

And you know, uh Dave Gendron, who I was just with, said his daughter was on Balboa Island the last couple days. Oh really? Yeah. I was like, oh, I bet you Kaylee got together with her.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

No, I didn't, but she's at UW, I guess. Yeah, yeah. So um, yeah, we have people from all over LA, but yeah, all LA.

SPEAKER_02 23:19

Pretty cool. And then what um, and then so you guys went Palm Springs, and then was Palm Springs weather good or was it super hot?

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Oh my gosh, it was like a hundred, but because we're so used to humidity and like when it being like hot, it is like double hot because it is so humid. The dry heat was actually not terrible.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

Well, that's cool. I mean, dry heat is a lot easier to tolerate because it allows your sweat to evaporate, it makes you feel a little cooler. But then obviously you get you left there and you went where? Balboa island? Yeah, and she's got a house actually on Balboa Island, where like by the little um Main Street town, or is it over by the ferry or something?

SPEAKER_01 23:53

Um by the town.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

It's so beautiful down there. Yeah, was it crazy? Like, was it filled with college kids, high school kids? Or was it?

SPEAKER_01 23:58

It was like it wasn't crazy. I mean, there was definitely like people there for sure, and but honestly, it was kind of I feel like as busy as Manhattan Beach is right now.

SPEAKER_02 24:07

You know what's sort of cool? And um, I think I got you into it, and I think you watched it, but did you know that the reunion of Laguna Beach is coming? Oh yes, we watched mom was like, Oh, I don't really know. That's like whatever. I was like, let's just watch the trailer. And we watched it, it was so good. Although Jason, who I was the bad boy on the show, I don't think he's on the reunion, which is sort of a bummer, but whatever. I think I'm super excited to watch that. I don't have Roku. Um, I guess mom and I are gonna have to get yet another subscription to something.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Wait, you need to put me on the Netflix account because I got kicked off.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

You're not allowed to be on the Netflix account. That would be stealing.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Um, if Netflix is listening to this, can you please not kick me off a family account? It said you are no longer in this household, which I'm very much a part of this household.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Well, you need to hang out a little more. You need to spend, I think, at least 30 days a year in this household in order to qualify. Okay. Well, it it can't be just when you need a ride to the airport or a ride back home or need a nice dinner or something. All right. Well, you're yawning, which means you're trying to get some extra oxygen so you can go out tonight with your friends. So, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna play some good vibe and tunes on the way out and just say, Kaylee, I know I had to pull teeth to get you on the podcast, but I'm really excited you did. So thank you. You are the greatest daughter I ever had, and I'm so blessed by having you in my life, and thank you for spending a few precious moments with me and your mom, who's gonna be home sometime soon uh tonight, on your spring break because I know how valuable that is.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Um, is there any last thing you want to say, any last-minute lesson for the um millions that listen to this?

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Nope. Okay, just I'll probably be on this at some point again.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Yes, we're looking forward to it. Until next time, we are Plate and Ponder Empty Nesting with Jen and Chris Fenton. Shout out to Kaylee Fenton and her friend Megan for making a special appearance. Uh, until next time, we wish you well. Please follow, download, engage, and review. Bye bye.