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.

A fire hydrant Clifford the Big Red Dog would love

            They say everything is bigger in Texas and a trip to Beaumont would assure anyone that this Dalmatian-styled fire hydrant fits the bill. Actually, it’s the third largest hydrant in the world — largest, of course, in Texas — but the largest working fire hydrant ever! We’d really love to see this baby in action!

             The fire hydrant sits in front of the Fire Museum of Texas, located in the city’s 1927 working Central Fire Station at 400 Walnut Street in downtown Beaumont. The museum is filled with vintage fire engines and equipment and memorabilia dating back to the late 1600s. Items include the 1909 Aerial ladder truck, the 1856 Howe Hand Drawn Pumper, the 1931 Light Truck used for search and rescue in the 1937 New London School Explosion and the Gamewell Call Box Alarm System used to call in fires before there were telephones.

            There is a fire engine for play as well, so kids can dress up in firemen clothes and sound the alarms, and an international collection of fire patches with a handy index so you can look up your town or state

            The Fire Museum of Texas is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and is free! And don’t forget the gift shop.

Hemingway would be proud

            Every July in Pamplona, Spain, a small herd of bulls chases anyone who’s brave enough to run in front. (And they say we’re crazy in the South!) This running of the bulls is in honor of San Fermin and was immortalized in Ernest Hemingway’s novels.

            Now, New Orleans has joined in the fun. 

             This July will be the seventh annual “Encierro: the Running of the Bulls” through the streets of downtown New Orleans. But participants won’t be followed by live bulls. Instead, in true New Orleans fashion, the “bulls” will be members of the Big Easy Rollergirls with horn helmets on their heads. Instead of horns piercing your side by an angry animal, women on skates will slap you with a foam wiffle bat.

            And to make the event even better, there’s food and alcohol as part of the larger San Fermin in Nueva Orleans festival!

            Yeah, Hemingway would love this.

            The San Fermin in Nueva Orleans (SFNO) festival will be July 11-14, 2013, and includes a Marques de Caceres wine dinner at the Bourbon Orleans, a 1-mile Dash and Fun Run, parties, live music, the Fiesta de Pantalones (Pants Feast) on Saturday night and El Pobre de Mi (Poor Me) on Sunday with readings from the works of Hemingway. There will also be a Hemingway look-alike contest, an original skit contest and Spanish specialty drinks.

            In case you’re wondering why French New Orleans is the site of this event (if the angry girls on skates and alcohol doesn’t do the trick), here’s some history for you. New Orleans may have been founded by the French, but it was under Spanish rule for decades, switching back to the French briefly before the French then sold it to Thomas Jefferson. If you look hard at the “French” Quarter, especially before you begin drinking, you’ll see the architecture is decidedly Spanish. That’s because much of the French Quarter burned during the Spanish reign and what replaced the original buildings had Roman arches, courtyards and balconies, just like Spain.

            So there, you learned something.

            For more information on the festival and the New Orleans Running of the Bulls, visit http://nolabulls.com/.

Goats on the Roof?

             In the South there have been some creative ways of enticing people off the road and into establishments. Think “See Rock City” emblazoned on bright red barns.

            But Goats on the Roof?

             In Tiger, Georgia, you can’t help but pull over for this attraction. Several goats are indeed on the roof — or roofs, all of which are attached by swinging bridges. Why? Heck, why not?

            Here’s how it works. You purchase goat food from the gift shop or Big Billy’s Café and Sweet Treats. Place the goat food into one of the many cups attached to a pully that leads up to a roof. Some of the pulleys are simple and some require some work, such as the bicycle, that moves the can of food up to the goat as you pedal.

            As you can imagine, the goats on the roof look down with glee once they hear those pulleys moving. They practically eat the cup when it finally arrives. 

             As crazy as it seems, the attraction’s a lot of fun. Kids love to ride the bicycle that moves the cup of food and witness the goats going crazy once the food arrives. And in addition to the goats, kids can mine for “gems” in a faux mining station or enjoy really awesome fudge inside the café (OMG, the red velvet cake!). There’s a picnic area, and food is available in the café and store.

             Before you pick up the phone to call PETA, the owners assured us the goats are well cared for and aren’t starving, despite their eager show on the roof — hey, that’s what goats do, eat everything! The goats rotate out so their stay on the roof is temporary and they have lovely goat quarters up there.

            Looking for a unique wedding site? Goats on the Roof is available for all kinds of special events.

Blog now honoring South's weird and unusual places

Dear Readers,

            I travel the South as a travel writer and am constantly amazed at the unusual and weird things we do.  I’ve decided to change my blog from a general travelogue to one that spotlights the weird and crazy places within the Southern United States.

            First up is the cemetery outside St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Rayne, Louisiana. B.L. Rayne brought the Louisiana Western Railroad to the prairie west of Lafayette, but frogs brought it fame. The Weill brothers of France — remember the French love frog legs — saw a future in the region’s bullfrogs and began exporting them to restaurants throughout the country.

            When you visit the quaint town of Rayne, there are frog murals everywhere, many created by the award-winning Acadiana mural artist Robert Dafford. In the fall is the annual Frog Festival. It’s no wonder Rayne calls itself the “Frog Capital of the World.”

            But back to that cemetery. The graves at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church are buried in a north-south direction instead of east to west, a traditional formation made for the departed to greet the rising sun, a symbol of Christ’s resurrection. No one knows for sure whether the grave organizers were having a joke on the town or if the mistake was unintentional, but St. Joseph’s Cemetery is a rarity. In addition to frogs, Rayne is famous for its unusual cemetery mentioned in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!”

Take 5: Great Deep South Bookstores

             There’s so many wonderful independent bookstores in the South we have to break it down by region. Here’s five of my favorites of the Deep South, with the award going to Mississippi, the state known for some of the finest American literary figures. Here’s my five but there were so many I left out!

            Square Books of Oxford, Miss., began in 1979 by Lisa and Richard Howorth, the latter a former president of the American Booksellers Association. Today, the three-in-one bookstore is a city landmark, offering booksignings by local and nationally known authors, programs, Camp Square Books for adults and the Thacker Mountain Radio. The 3,500-square-foot Square Books, Jr. is devoted to children’s selections; Off Square Books features lifestyle topics such as cooking and gardening; and the main store celebrates regional history and literature. This year, Square Books won Publisher Weekly’s Bookstore of the Year Award.

              In Jackson, there’s the oversized Lemuria Books, offering not only a fabulous selection, but a blog, first editions club and great book events. Some of the best names travel through Lemuria, but so do the little guys just starting off selling great titles as well. The staff is helpful, their email newsletters well done and professional, and did we mention the great selection? And there’s an awesome coffee shop and bistro downstairs so you can enjoy your purchase with a cup of Joe.

            Danny Plaisance runs Cottonwood Books in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, an unassuming place that’s stocked with great finds. In addition to 35,000 used and rare books are first editions, rare titles on Louisiana and the Civil War and new books by locals. Give yourself lots of time to peruse the aisles of this special place. And if you have a question or searching for a title, it's likely Danny can help.

            Mystery lovers have to sample Murder by the Book in Houston, one of the nation's oldest and largest mystery specialty bookstores. The store packs in more than 25,000 new and used books, first editions, collectibles, gift items, mystery magazines, and more, plus hosts numerous booksignings by mystery authors every year.
             Page and Palette family-owned bookstore is located in the heart of charming Fairhope, Alabama. The independent store run by the third generation features a great selection of Alabama and Gulf Coast writers and hosts regular book signings and events such as storytime, open mics and book discussions. There’s a coffee shop attached so it’s easy to enjoy a good book, a comfy chair and a hot cup of coffee. In addition, the shop offers a used book section.

Arkansas offers art of nature, food and well, art!

             I visited Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., just before its opening. I didn’t get a peek inside the Moshe Safdie-designed buildings over a nature spring but I did explore the 3.5-mile hiking trails surrounding the magnificent buildings, the sculpture garden and the Skyspace which changes color throughout the day with different degrees of sunlight.

             Recently, I had the chance to revisit Crystal Bridges and this time I witnessed the numerous galleries of American art collected by Alice Walton, daughter of Sam Walton, the father of Wal-Mart. There are more than 1,000 works of art housed here with about 450 on the floor at any time. Artwork includes Asher B. Durand’s “Kindred Spirits,” “Rosie the Riveter” by Norman Rockwell (shown here) and Andy Warhol’s “Dolly Parton.”

            Equally important as the art within is the structure with its curved beams and gallery walls, windows that allow nature inside, seating areas with massive art book libraries and an interactive children’s room. The architecture, winding nature trails, intricate interior design is as much something to see and cherish as the wide collection of American art. 

      Crystal Bridges is opening “American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell” March 9 through May 27, a fitting tribute to a popular American artist who may have been overlooked through the years because of his commercial appeal. On April 10 the museum will offer the special event “Norman Rockwell and Edible Culture” from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Museum’s Great Hall. Culinary Director Case Dighero will offer sample selections of food and drinks from the museum’s restaurant, Eleven, focusing on the Rockwell exhibition and Rockwell’s perspective of edible culture in the United States. Food images throughout the Rockwell exhibition will be discussed, reflected upon and tasted.

Tickets are $30. 

             For more information on the amazing museum — truly a coup for Southern art enthusiasts — visit http://crystalbridges.org/.

           Kat Robinson is a food and travel writer in addition to promoting Arkansas through its department of tourism. We met at a recent travel convention in Little Rock and I learned she had just authored a cookbook-travel guidebook titled “Arkansas Pie: A Delicious Slice of the Natural State” (The History Press). Being a pie enthusiast, I just had to get my hands on one. 

Basin Park Huckleberry Pie

         What a fabulous idea for a book! Robinson takes readers on a culinary tour of the state, visiting diners, restaurants and bakeries to spotlight their trademark pies, everything from The Cliff House Inn’s Company Comin’ Pie to the fried pies of the Delta and the Ozarks. (I had a huckleberry fried pie at the Basin Park Hotel in Eureka Springs topped with huckleberry ice cream and it was so so good!) This book includes icebox pies, pecan pies like your mama’s, caramel apple pie, Toll House pie — you name it. 

             Now don’t you want to grab this book and eat your way up to Crystal Bridges? If you do, be sure and stop in Burge’s in Lewisville and sample their roasted turkey sandwich. Robinson recommended it to me for my drive from Little Rock to Lafayette and it was outstanding.

            Here’s a Robinson recipe for Arkansas Possum Pie, named so because it “plays possum,” or represents itself as something else. Robinson calls it a “pecan cream pie hybrid.”

Burge’s in Lewisville

Possum Pie

From “Arkansas Pie: A Delicious Slice of the Natural State”

1 1/2 sticks butter

 2 cups flour

1 cups crushed pecans, separated

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

12 ounces Cool Whip divided

1 box milk chocolate instant pudding

1 box chocolate fudge instant pudding

3 cups milk

            Directions: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut butter into flour to make crumbly pastry dough. Add a cup crushed pecans. Press into two 8- or 9-inch pie pans or 13- by 9-inch casserole. Bake 15 minutes or until flour starts to brown. Remove and cool. Cream together cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar. Add six ounces of Cool Whip and beat until fluffy. Spread over bottom of both pies. Blend together both pudding mixes with milk. Pour in on top of the cream cheese mixture and allow to set. Spread remaining Cool Whip over the top of both pies and sprinkle with pecans. Makes two pies.