Take a bite out of this crocodile

Visitors to Louisiana are often scared of our reptilian creatures. And no, our alligators are not crocodiles. Those ferocious beasts native to Australia and a few sections of South Florida are really scary! Our gators get fairly freaked out when humans get close and that's a good thing.

What visitors should do is take a bite out of our crocodiles. I know I said we don't have any but in Shreveport, we do have a few, those of the chocolate variety. The Chocolate Crocodile at The Louisiana Boardwalk in Bossier City (just over the bridge from Shreveport), serves up a host of chocolate goodies and other sweets, but don't miss the Monster Crocodile Pecan Apple, a Granny Smith apple that's dipped in homemade caramel, rolled in pecans and topped with hmilk chocolate. It's even drizzled with white chocolate as the finale. Talk about scrumptious good.

If you mention you are a fan of the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau, you'll receive 35 percent off your purchase. Read more about that discount here. 

This weekend is the perfect time to visit Shreveport and Bossier City for the Mudbug Madness Festival happens today (May 25) through Sunday. There's live entertainment on three stages, fun for all ages and lots and lots of crawfish and other Cajun specialties. Active duty and retired military with ID will get in free all four days.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is a travel and food writer from South Louisiana who appreciates the weird and wacky side of life, including those delicious, decadent chocolate crocodiles in Bossier City. Write to her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

A beer by any other name

We love beers with a sense of humor. Take Great Raft Brewing in Shreveport, for instance, home to Reasonably Corrupt dark lager, the perfect drink while enjoying Louisiana politics. Great Raft has several beers with weird and fun names: Grace and Grit, Southern Drawl, Creature of Habit, All My Tomorrows, At Arm’s Length (good for when creepy men come hitting) and Awkward Uncle (see photo), what they call their "boozy winter seasonal." We’ve visited this brewery twice, enjoying its enormous and hip tasting room, brewery tours and, of course, the delicious beers.
            If you visit the taproom, you can fill up a jug and bring these tasty beers home. But if you can’t make it to Shreveport, Great Raft beers are located in stores that sell craft beers throughout Louisiana; see their web site for details.

Elvis has NOT left the building and other Shreveport haunts

            Elvis Presley performed on the “Louisiana Hayride” radio show, broadcast from Shreveport’s historic Municipal Auditorium. It was a transitional time for Elvis; he started garnering a following while in Shreveport and left for bigger pastures. But when screaming teens arrived at the Municipal to hear him sing, “Hayride” producer Horace Logan had to tell then “Elvis has left the building” to make them stop.

Cora Lee Wilson's grave

             The screaming teens may have left the building but some think Elvis still hangs around. Actually, most people have other views about who’s haunting the Municipal Auditorium but it’s definitely someone who is not of this plane.

Logan Mansion

            The Auditorium is only one site in Shreveport that claims to be haunted, and these downtown haunts were spotlighted in last weekend’s inaugural Paranormal Festival. Participants were treated to tours of Oakland Cemetery, where the gravesite of Cora Lee Wilson routinely has bricks pushed out — from the inside! The cemetery is also home to more than 750 bodies buried in one massive grave due to the 1873 yellow fever epidemic. Vicki LeBrun gave tours of the Victorian Logan Mansion where it’s believed a young girl threw herself out of the third-story window and hangs around performing ghostly pranks (and sits across the street from the old gay nightclub that's now seen in the opening of "True Blood" episodes). Ghost hunting sessions were held at the Spring Street Museum and the Multi-Cultural Center, where people (including yours truly) heard unexplained noises, watched flashlights go on and off and heard answers to their spoken questions. 

Fan of "True Blood?" This house is in the opening credits.

              “We think that downtown Shreveport has many things that go bump in the night,” said festival director Liz Swaine.

            As for Elvis sightings, the Municipal Auditorium was closed for renovations. Since the festival drew good crowds for its first time out the gate, festival organizers are hopeful they will offer the event next summer, but using the Auditorium as home base.

            Maybe then we can be sure if Elvis truly left the building.