Attractions

The Louisiana Office of State Parks will soon release an updated version of The Pocket Ranger, a mobile app for visitors to Louisiana's State Parks and State Historic Sites. The free app's expanded features will include GPS mapping, a friend finder to track fellow site guests, games and other features. It is available for download on Apple iTunes and on Google Play for Android. For more information, search “Louisiana State Parks” at those sites or visit www.stateparkapps.com.

Facilities improvements at Louisiana parks properties include the establishment of a community gardening and beautification program at Forts Randolph & Buhlow State Historic Site; ongoing improvements to cabins at Chicot State Park; renovations and additions to the battlefield museum at Mansfield State Historic Site; and the opening of a disc golf course at Sam Houston Jones State Park. For details visit www.lastateparks.com.

The Alexandria Museum of Art will host a special exhibit featuring 72 works of art from the permanent collection of Guild Hall from April 12 to June 15. The art from the noted Long Island gallery includes works by 61 acclaimed artists from New York City and the surrounding region. They include Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. For additional information, visit www.themuseum.org or call 318-473-6413.

Bayou Teche Brewing in Arnaudville will soon offer tours and tastes when it begins production in a new 8,000-square-foot facility adjacent to its original converted rail car brew house. The microbrewery produces seven beers, each matched with complimenting Cajun and Creole foods. For details, call 337.303.8117 or visit www.BayouTecheBrewing.com. 

Two new paddle trails have been created in northeast Louisiana by Louisiana State Parks and other government conservation agencies. The Bayou Macon Paddling Trail connects Poverty Point Reservoir State Park with Poverty Point State Historic Site in West Carroll Parish. The second trail on Bayou Bartholomew in Morehouse Parish accesses Chemin-A-Haut State Park and tours through 1,000-year-old cypress trees. For information and maps, visit the “Boating and Swimming” section of www.ExploreLouisianaNorth.org.

The L'Auberge Casino and Hotel Baton Rouge overlooking the Mississippi River just south of Louisiana State University recently opened. The property has a 30,000-square-foot gaming floor with 1,500 slot machines and 51 table games. Amenities include 205 guest rooms, a multipurpose event center that can accommodate concert or banquet seating for up to 1,400 people and several dining and drink options. For details, contact Christy Chachere with Visit Baton Rouge at 225.382.3577 or Christy@visitbatonrouge.com.

Two new music venues have opened in downtown Baton Rouge. The Blues Room is on Lafayette Street in the space formerly known as Tabby's Blues Box, the bar owned by noted local blues musician Tabby Thomas. Mud & Water on South Boulevard plans to offer live music in different genres five nights weekly. For details, contact www.visitbatonrouge.com.

Visit Baton Rouge now has a guide for college football fans who want to experience tailgating at Louisiana State University's Tiger Stadium. Guide to Tiger Tailgating offers information on viewing the school's mascot, Mike the Tiger, on viewing the team's march down Victory Hill and where to get LSU apparel and souvenirs. The PDF is available for download at www.VisitBatonRouge.com in the “Baton Rouge Tours” section.

Bayou Teche Experience now offers paddle rentals and guide services on the 135-mile bayou, the Atchafalaya Basin and other St. Martin Parish and regional waterways. They are located at 317 E. Bridge St. in downtown Breaux Bridge. It is open daily and the gift shop sells kayaking supplies. For details, call 337.366.0337 or visit www.BayouTecheExperience.com.

Café des Amis in Breaux Bridge has introduced a Sunday “Mimosas & Music” brunch to their weekly slate. A full brunch menu and live music from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. are offered. For details, visit www.cafedesamis.com.

Joie de Vivre Café is downtown Breaux Bridge's newest restaurant and hub for family oriented live music and culture. The venue hosts Cajun jams every Saturday, a children's Cajun jam on the last Sunday of each month, and monthly zydeco dance house parties, film showings, poetry readings and art exhibits. For details, visit www.cajuncountry.org.

A new $500 million casino and resort is under construction in the city of Lake Charles. Ameristar Casino Resort Spa Lake Charles will offer a casino with 1,600 slot machines and 60 table games. Amenities include 700 guest rooms, numerous food and beverage outlets, an 18-hole golf course, tennis, swimming and a spa. It is scheduled to open in 2014 on a 242-acre site adjacent to Lake Charles' L'Auberge Casino Resort. The Ameristar will be the city's fourth casino gaming property.

Calcasieu and Cameron parishes' Creole Nature Trail All-American Road now has a GPS Ranger handheld video tour and smartphone application. The free app is available for download at the iTunes App Store or Google Play for Android. The Southwest Louisiana Convention and Visitors Bureau headquarters, 1205 N. Lakeshore Dr. in Lake Charles, also checks out GPS units at no cost. The tour app is available in English, French, Spanish and German. An English closed-captioned version is also available. For details, call 800.456.7952 or visit www.VisitLakeCharles.org.

The newly-opened Pintail Wildlife Drive Boardwalk offers stunning views of the marshlands of Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge. The boardwalk features expanded areas ideal for photography and viewing in locations known for waterfowl. The walk also provides several free viewing scopes and an interpretive kiosk at the entrance.
The boardwalk is located at 1428 Highway 27 near Bell City. For details, call 337.598.2216 or visit www.CreoleNatureTrail.org.

The Lady of the Lake, a three-deck yacht in Lake Charles is available for corporate functions, special events and conferences. The boat can accommodate 150 people. Dinner cruises are also in the planning stages. For details, call 337.912.0342 or visit www.LakeCharlesDinnerCruises.com.

The Art Shop in Lake Charles now offers bicycle rentals for touring more than 40 blocks of the city's architecturally rich Charpentier Historic District. Bikes are available in a variety of styles and prices and include locks, helmets and maps of the area. The Art Shop is at 706 Ryan St. For details, call 337.564.6403.

Kayak Rentals now offers an up-close way to experience the Calcasieu River near Lake Charles. Paddlers can travel from the West Fork to Sam Houston Jones State Park, where they will find picnic, pavilion and restroom facilities. A variety of kayaks are available, and prices include support gear and transportation to the drop-off location. Rentals are available daily. For details, call 337.540.3925.

A new rookery has opened at Rip Van Winkle Gardens on Jefferson Island near New Iberia. Rip's Rookery includes five islands and hosts five species of wading birds amidst three acres of wetlands inhabited by alligators. The rookery is adjacent to the 25-acre botanical garden and nature retreat that was the summer home of acclaimed actor Joseph Jefferson. Admission to the rookery is free. For details, call 337.359.8525 or visit www.RipVanWinkleGardens.com.

The Bayou Teche Museum in New Iberia recently opened a permanent exhibit on sugar cultivation. Fields, Factories and Festivals shows visitors how the staple south Louisiana crop is planted and processed. The exhibit includes a scale model sample of a working sugar factory and the local Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival and Fair, held annually for more than 70 years. The museum is at 131 E. Main St. For details, call 337.606.5977 or visit www.BayouTecheMuseum.org.

The Louisiana State Museum is offering a special exhibit on the works of Newcomb Pottery of New Orleans through September 2013. The Palm, the Pine and the Cypress presents more than 60 ornate glazed ceramic pieces, alongside archival photographs documenting the pottery's history in the 1940s. The exhibit is housed in Madame John's Legacy, a French Quarter property built in 1788 that is considered one of the finest examples of French Colonial architecture in North America. Admission is free and the exhibit is open Tuesdays through Saturdays. Madame John's Legacy is located at 632 Dumaine St. For details, call 504.568.7056 or visit www.crt.state.la.us/museum/exhibits.aspx.

Approximately $300 million in modernization projects are complete or underway at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, including the addition of new terminal gates and a consolidated rental car facility that will expand total airport inventory from 800 to 1,800 vehicles. Many new offerings ranging from free WiFi service in terminals to new signage and flight display information systems are in place, and football fans will now find an official New Orleans Sints merchandise store. Spirit Airlines began service between New Orleans and Dallas/Fort Worth in January 2013. Southwest and Delta have added new flights connecting New Orleans with Baltimore-Washington International, Chicago-Midway, Las Vegas and New York-JFK. Southwest also recently announced plans to increase its presence in New Orleans by 35 percent in 2013, adding 1.5 million new seats to the market annually. New restaurants at the airport include offshoots of Dooky Chase and Ye Old College Inn, along with Le Petit Bistro, Zatarain's Kitchen, Copeland's Gourmet Kitchen, Copeland's Cheesecake and Wow Café and Wingery.For details, visit www.FlyMSY.com.

New Orleans' Ernest N. Morial Convention Center now has a new entrance and a new Great Hall, Additional features include a 60,300-square-foot column-free ballroom, a 4,000-square-foot meeting room and the new pedestrian plaza and outdoor terrace, which overlooks a jumbo, high-definition, customizable video display board. For details, visit www.neworleansgreathall.com.

The Port of New Orleans welcomed two new home-ported cruise ships and set a new Port record for passenger embarkations during a two-day span during November 2012. Norwegian Star of the Norwegian Cruise Line and Navigator of the Seas of the Royal Caribbean Cruise line have replaced older vessels in the port. A recent study found that the cruise industry accounted for $280 million in direct spending in Louisiana last year, and the city is among the top ten of all cruise ports in the United States. For details, visit www.portno.com.

The new Loyola Streetcar Line is running from the Union Passenger Terminal to Canal Street along Loyola Avenue. The $45 million line is about a mile and a half long and includes stops near the Mercedez-Benz Superdome. The project is expected to attract new investment along Loyola Avenue. A map of the line is available at www.norta.com/_meta/files/Streetcar_expansion/RTA-Loyola-Streetcar-Project.pdf.

City Sightseeing New Orleans is the newest way to explore the Big Easy—via open-top double-decker buses. The tours stop at major attractions including Jackson Square, the French Market, the Audubon Insectarium, the National World War II Museum, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Bourbon Street, Basin Street Station and Mardi Gras World. One, two and three day passes are available and tours are offered in seven foreign languages via headsets. For details, visit www.CitySightseeingNewOrleans.com.

The National World War II Museum in New Orleans has opened the US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center. This $35 million structure showcases the military weaponry and industrial requirements undertaken during World War II and was designed to accommodate six airplanes used in WWII. In addition to the machinery on display, many personal war stories are highlighted within the pavilion through interactive exhibits. For details, visit www.nationalww2museum.org/expansion/us-freedom-pavilion-boeing-center.html.

The National World War II Museum now offers a History and Heritage travel package that gives visitors an insider's tour of both the facility and city attractions. The tour is offered monthly and is designed to give travelers a long weekend in New Orleans featuring city tours and behind-the-scenes museum tours with curators. For details, visit www.WW2MuseumTours.org/history-and-heritage.

New Orleans' Southern Food and Beverage Museum has begun a 30,000 square foot expansion that will add a restaurant, a children's gallery and exhibits for 17 Southern states. New offerings are expected to open in the spring of 2013. For details, visit www.SouthernFood.org.

The Historic New Orleans Collection's newest exhibit, Something Old, Something New: Collecting in the 21st Century, showcases the museum's most significant acquisitions since 2000. Staff curators and historians say the exhibit spans 300 years of history as it shows the diversity of the museum's overall collection. It runs through February 2013. For details, visit www.hnoc.org.

A $70 million facelift is underway at New Orleans' Riverwalk Marketplace, as it begins transformation into The Outlet Collection at Riverwalk. The upscale retail outlet will add 50,000 square feet to its venue when it opens in late 2013. For details, visit www.RiverWalkMarketplace.com.

New Orleans' historic Joy Theater has reopened as a 10,000-square-foot multipurpose center on Canal Street, as renovations continue across the street on the city's Saenger Theater. The Joy opened as a movie theater in 1947. When the Saenger's $51 million restoration is complete, it will mark the addition of two key performance venues to the city's theater district. For details, visit www.TheJoyTheater.com.

The Irish Cultural Museum of New Orleans is now open in downtown New Orleans. It devotes resources to promote education, charity and support to programs that promote the Irish and Irish-American culture and heritage in the city. For details, visit www.icmnola.com.

The New Orleans Northshore region – specifically Tangipahoa, St. Helena, St. Tammany and Washington parishes – recently established the Louisiana Quilt Trail. Visitors can take a self-guided tour and view nearly 100 painted quilt blocks which adorn residential and business exteriors. Each square contains important local facts and historic events and occasions associated with its location. Tour brochures are available at local tourist commission offices in parishes on the trail or by visiting www.LouisianaQuiltTrail.com. There is also an official Quilt Trail shop at 146 W. Oak Street in downtown Pontchatoula.

St. Bernard Parish has opened a new welcome center at its parish line with Orleans, about five miles from New Orleans. The center at 409 Aycock St. in  Arabi is open weekdays. For details, call 504.278.4242 or visit www.VisitStBernard.com.

St. Landry Parish has opened a new visitor center on I-49 in Opelousas. The center will soon add a multitouch interactive table where travelers can research and preview attractions, overnight providers, festivals and special events. For details on the new center, call 337.948.8004 extension 102 or visit www.CajunTravel.com.

Tangipahoa Parish is home to the New Orleans Northshore's newest multi-purpose recreation park. The 90-acre Chappapeela Sports Park offers a 1.5 mile jogging/walking path, a waterpark, three equipped playgrounds and multiple football, baseball, softball and soccer fields. It is just off Interstate 12 near the town of Robert. For details, call 985.277.5900.

Country Lane by Star C Ranch is a new RV and bed and breakfast facility in Tangipahoa Parish that caters to horse enthusiasts. The site offers camping, a pool and over 20 miles of horse riding trails spread through 485 acres. Visitors can utilize guides and the facility's horses for trail rides, or they can board their own horses via on-site stalls and paddocks. Country Lane is in the town of Roseland. For details, visit www.StarCRanch.net.

The Bayou Country Children's Museum recently opened in Thibodaux, offering kids ages 2-12 hands-on exhibits on sugarcane, alligators, Mardi Gras and the pirate Jean Lafitte, among other subjects. For details, visit www.bccm.info.

Donnier-Peltier Distillers is now creating Louisiana-inspired rums and vodkas in the city of Thibodaux. Louisiana products including rice and cane sugar are used to create their liquors, which are distilled 17 times and crafted in small batches. Free tours are offered by appointment daily and motorcoach groups are welcome. The distillery site is at 1635 St. Patrick Highway and it includes a bar area and gift shop. For details, call 985.446.0002 or visit www.DPStiller.com.

The stars of A&E Network's hit reality show Duck Dynasty have opened a Duck Commander Store at their handmade duck calls factory in West Monroe.The popular series tracks the hunting and fishing, business dealings and social antics of the bush-bearded Robertson outdoorsmen and their spouses. The store offers visitors items ranging from shirts and hats to character Phil's special cooking seasonings. The store and factory is located at 117 Kings Lane and is open Mondays through Saturdays. For details, call 318.387.0597 or visit www.DuckCommander.com.