Looking for Louisiana adventures OTHER than Mardi Gras? You’re in the right place! I assembled this post with them from two Real Live Cajuns and lifelong Louisianians. These are Louisiana travel tips you won’t find elsewhere!
Must Do Louisiana Adventures
Wednesday Night Cajun Jam – The Blue Moon Saloon
The Blue Moon is one of those bars that immediately makes you feel like a clever, super cool insider. Aren’t you the hip one – finding this fantastic little local place, packed to the gills with great music, good beer and grinning locals?
The Cajun Jam is a particularly joyful night, though you’d have fun there on any given day. And if you’re brave enough to ask, just about any local would love to teach you how to Cajun dance.
Antebellum House Tour – Shadows on The Teche
A widow who scandalously remarried a judge and refused to leave her home when it was occupied by soldiers during the civil war? A smoking, drinking, dog-obsessed, Henry Miller-befriending artist bachelor for a final owner? Plus beautiful wallpaper, original furnishings and crazy gorgeous gardens? Yes, please!
Swamp Tour – Cajun Country Swamp Tours
If you’ve seen The Notebook then you know the bayou can be breathtakingly beautiful. All that open water, the dreamy Spanish moss, Egrets in the grass. Also: alligators. (I took the above photo. Without a zoom.)
These tours are interesting, your guide will have a sexy Cajun accent and they only cost $20 for 2 hours! Gogogo! (P.S. Yes, I realize that The Notebook was actually set in South Carolina. But what you’ll see in the Louisiana bayou looks very similar to that scene – I promise!)
Zydeco Brunch – Buck & Johnny’s
Southern breakfast is pretty hard to beat – grits, eggs begnaud, crab cakes, beignets. Add a side of I-have-to-finish-my-food-so-I-can-dance Zydeco music and you’ve got the perfect Saturday morning. So.much.fun. Get there by 7:00 or 8:00 to get a table and make sure you try one of their world famous Bloody Marys!
Un Boucherie – a local friend you know
A boucherie isn’t necessarily for the faint of heart; it’s the celebration that surrounds the slaughtering of a hog. If you’re tender-hearted like me, skip the part where they actually kill the pig and show up later for the cooking, wine drinking, telling of stories and dancing.
Boucheries are usually thrown by large, extended families, but if you’re lucky, you can find community-sponsored ones in small town Louisiana.
Stay in a historic home
Louisiana has very specific architecture – columns, deep porches, outdoor ceiling fans. Bask in it by staying some place gorgeous and historic! This garden apartment in NOLA sleeps 4 and this historic renovation was featured on HGTV! This historic ‘double shot gun’ house is just $68 a night.
And if you’ve never used Airbnb before, here’s $55 towards your first booking!
Louisiana natives, what else would you add to this list?
P.S. How to live out of a suitcase – glamorously
The bayou is an awesome place, but The Notebook was filmed on the South Carolina coast in the lowcountry 🙂 Which is another awesome place that you should visit if you get the chance!
Very cool- I need to get back to NOLA & do some real exploring. Most people only want to party on Bourbon street 🙁 My last real trip there was for Jazz Fest, so we didn't do much sightseeing. Thanks for sharing all these great places
I. Miss. Louisiana.
This makes me a little homesick, but I'm so glad you enjoyed Louisiana. And yes, alligators. I have a bizarre love for them. I'm happy that you went and saw the more everyday aspects of the state rather than just the drunk college kids on Bourbon Street. Mwah!
This is a fantastic post. I live in NOLA, and your post has given me some places to visit. Thanks!
Thanks for covering what makes Cajun country unique.
oh my god.
i may have to go this instant!
I love your blog!!
I think you should post something about this campaign, have you heard already?
http://vimeo.com/invisible/kony2012
Carolina,
I have seen that video, but I'm also read a lot of conflicting information about the organization behind that Kony2012 campaign.
http://jezebel.com/5891269/think-twice-before-donating-to-kony-2012-the-meme-du-jour
There's no question that Kony is a monster, but it looks like IC might be a bit dicey as well.
Hi Sarah, this campaign is only becoming big in Brazil right now, and as soon as I read it I thought about your blog.
I'm going to read about it
Thanks 🙂
Hope that after being "faint-hearted" at the butchering of the pig you didn't go back and eat it later. The posting of that photo = unfollow.
Anon,
I've been a vegetarian for 20 years, but I respect everyone's right to make their own choices about the food they eat. And I think it's much more admirable to kill an animal yourself, acknowledge the fact that you've ended an animal's life so you can eat it and then cook every last part of it, rather than just buying boneless, skinless chicken breast and not thinking about the fact that they used to be on a living, breathing animal.
I'd love to tour the deep American South one day, for all of the above reasons! The music, the food, the landscape. Maybe not so much the alligators… :o)