Best Louisiana Road Trips: Three Scenic Drives Into a Louisiana You Didn’t Expect
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS The first time I stood on the plateau at Longleaf Vista, looking out over pine ridges rolling toward a horizon twenty miles out, I reached for my phone. Not for a photo. For the map. I needed something official to confirm that I […]
Washington, Louisiana: Where the Steamboat Whistle Still Blows
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS At six o’clock in the evening, a steamboat whistle rolls across Washington, Louisiana—long, low, and three notes deep. It’s an authentic three-chime whistle, the same kind that once announced boats coming up the bayou in the 1700s and 1800s. There hasn’t been a […]
Grand Cane, Louisiana: The Little Village That Saved Its Own Main Street
Discover Grand Cane, Louisiana—a tiny DeSoto Parish village that saved its historic Main Street. Explore shops, theater, history & things to do near Shreveport
The Best General Stores in Louisiana Still Worth a Stop
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS There’s not too many general stores still open for business in Louisiana. So when I find one, I’ve got to stop and shop. That’s become a little ritual of mine filming LA 64, my road trip across all 64 parishes. Somewhere between the […]
The Old Spanish Trail in Louisiana: A Highway 90 Road Trip
Drive the Old Spanish Trail down Louisiana’s Highway 90 — past Idlewild, Bayou Teche live oaks, sugar towns and Cajun Main Streets on America’s original road trip.
Alexandria Zoo: Where Local Action Becomes Global Conservation in Central Louisiana
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS There is a sentence Landon Proctor says within about four seconds of shaking my hand, and it reframes everything I am about to see. We are standing at the gates of the Alexandria Zoo in Rapides Parish, the sun already doing its Central […]
Longstreet Rosenwald School in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana: The Schoolhouse a Community Built by Hand
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS Longstreet Rosenwald School: DeSoto Parish’s Treasure In Louisiana, we hold tight to the places that made us — the church, the dance hall, the corner store, the schoolhouse at the end of the road. I’ve driven past plain little buildings like this one […]
Richard Sale Barn in Abbeville, Louisiana: A Cattle Auction House Turned Cajun Listening Room
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS Louisianans, we love our music. We’re raised on it — fiddle and accordion at the dance hall, brass on the street corner, somebody’s uncle picking a guitar on the back porch. But here’s the thing most of us never stop to think about: […]
Grotto of Bancker, Louisiana: A Hidden Gem to Visit Near Abbeville
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS There are places in Louisiana you have to be taken to. You will not find them on a billboard off I-10. Your GPS will sigh at you. And you will absolutely drive past the turn at least once, because the turn does not […]
Crawfish Haven & Mrs. Rose’s Bed and Breakfast: A Cajun Crawfishing Getaway You Won’t Find in a Guidebook
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS Louisianans, we love our mud bugs. We’re raised on a hearty dose of Louisiana crawfish at every backyard boil and family reunion. But here’s the thing most of us never stop to think about: the work that goes into harvesting them. So when […]