It’s sometimes said that there is no state quite like Louisiana. Truth is, there is no state like Louisiana, period. Where else are so many remnants of French Rule still in effect in America? Where else can you find the original Mardi Gras? And where else can you party all night, any day of the week, watch incredible live jazz shows, get your beer and wine in a to-go cup, and drink it on the street while en route to your next destination? Any American should be able to answer these questions without help. It’s the one and only French Quarter in historic New Orleans, Louisiana. New Orleans, embattled by hurricane Katrina, but infused with a spirit to endure, is still one of the hottest spots in the U.S. for unique culture, unique atmosphere, and most notably, unique and delicious cuisine. Even outside the city, and indeed throughout the state, can you find people who’ve called Louisiana home for generations, so much so that the dialect and accent are unmistakable with those from any where else in America. And with hundreds of miles of coastline along the aqua blue Gulf of Mexico, plenty of plantations, prodigious pine forests, and serious swamplands, bogs, and bayous where you’ll find an environment like no other on the planet, its an understatement to point out this state’s diversity. So much so, that it’s divided into five distinct regions, Greater New Orleans, Plantation land, Cajun Country, Crossroads, and Sportsman’s Paradise. So whether you’re fishing for catfish, eating jambalaya, drinking on Bourbon Street, frog-gigging in the bayou, or simply relaxing at a bed and breakfast surrounded by Southern charm, you’ll know one thing for sure, you couldn’t be anywhere else on the planet but Louisiana.

New Orleans, Mardi Gras, French Quarter, Bourbon Street, Katrina, Gulf of Mexico, cajun, jazz, catfish, jambalaya

Hurricane Katrina, Baton Rouge River Center, Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Mall of Louisiana, Louisiana State University, Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, Southern University, The Shaw Group, Exxon,