Banned for ninety-five years in the United States until 2007, absinthe has garnered almost a century’s worth of mystique as a drink responsible for festive delusions. But such mystique is no match for the knowledge …
December 10, 2015
Louisiana news, stories, and travel reviews
Louisiana news, stories, and travel reviews
New Orleans and its food museums: a foodie pilgrimage
River pilots fleeced by San Diego pirates
Timothy Monahan, a San Diego real estate developer, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Thursday (March 19) in New Orleans. Monahan and another San Diego real estate operator, Mark Hoffmann, convinced …
March 21, 2015
An Amtrak-Airbnb American (and Canadian) adventure
Weary of going through another airport security line? Enchanted by an early morning train whistle hurtling to points unknown? With airline costs continuing to rise, I set out to try a new, more economical cross-country …
Finding the roots of American music in North Louisiana
As a former musician myself, I shake my head sadly at musicians who think they’re getting the folk zeitgeist of a given genre just by listening to records. You learn folk music by listening to …
November 11, 2014
Louisiana's Great River Road
Louisiana’s Great River Road is actually two historic corridors reaching seventy miles from New Orleans to beyond Baton Rouge on either side of the Mississippi. First Spanish, then French, and finally Creole landowners built their …
April 9, 2013
NOLA: Voodoo and the Spirit of the Hurricane
I’ll be honest – from my four-day weekend in NOLA, I wanted three things: voodoo, ghosts and Hurricanes. And I wasn’t disappointed. My first glimpse of Bourbon Street was a little disappointing – trashy bars, …
February 18, 2013
One Night in the French Quarter
Before Katrina devastated New Orleans, the State of Alabama sent me and two other newly appointed law clerks to attend a conference there. We were given a pre-paid twin room at the Hotel Monteleone (for …
October 16, 2012
Laura Plantation, Louisiana
After visiting Oak Alley with its twin rows of 300-year-old oaks and impressive Greek Revival architecture, I found the modest appearance of the Laura Plantation an interesting contrast. Laura is one of several plantations off …
Oak Alley Plantation, Louisiana
The thing about bayous is that they are humid, wet places. Very wet places. The trees that grow there know it. The things that live there know it. I knew it, too. Know it still. …
Spring Break in New Orleans
I’m not a student anymore, but I still like to take a break in the spring to travel. My favorite place in the world to take a spring break trip is New Orleans. Who needs …
April 28, 2011
Louisiana’s Swamps and Wetlands
It is said that when Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, he was mainly interested in New Orleans and its surrounding swamps. Two centuries later, it is now the section of the country …
Frenchmen Street: A Bourbon Street for Locals
Where would you go out at night in New Orleans? Bourbon Street, right? Me too. But after satiating the people-watching craving via the drunken crowds and after having enough of the flashing neon signs, I …
June 26, 2010
Hurricanes and Gators in New Orleans
Thankfully, I’m not referring to a severe tropical cyclone unleashing raging reptiles, but rather to drink and food. I arrived in the “birthplace of jazz” with a few goals outside of relishing music: to find …
June 3, 2010
New Orleans Jazz Fest: A Fest of Smiles
“New Orleans is my spot,” declares Pershall the cabbie en route to my second day at Jazz Fest. Ten minutes away from the famed French Quarter at the Fair Grounds Race Course, the 41st annual …
May 19, 2010
Unforgettable New Orleans
New Orleans is the most unique city in the country. Having grown up there, I may be biased when I say that, but I believe the evidence is apparent. The music — primarily jazz and …
October 14, 2009