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Sportsman's Paradise
Thick, piney woods that flourish with wildlife. Lush rolling hills. Clear, sparkling lakes abundant with bass and trout. Mysterious bayous fingering from the rivers. This is Northern Louisiana. Sportsman's Paradise.and heaven for birdwatchers, nature photographers, campers and anyone who has ever pulled a 16 pound bass out of Caney Lake. For those who love history, this is where Native Americans trapped deer and traded pottery at Poverty Point, long before Ancient Greece and Rome were on the map. This is where brave soldiers in the blue and the gray fought and fell at the Battle of Mansfield. 
And right outside of Arcadia, Louisiana, on an often-trod spot of dirt, you'll find a chipped monument that marks the spot where, in 1933, the notorious Bonnie and Clyde took their last ride. A few years later, in Shreveport, another ride began-- The Louisiana Hayride, that sparked the careers of legends such as Hank Williams, Sr. and Elvis Presley.
What else is here in Sportsman's Paradise? Plenty of nightlife and casino gaming in the twin cities of Shreveport and Bossier City, where you'll find a dazzling assortment of restaurants and luxury hotels.
But don't let the glitz and glamour distract you from the other pleasures that await you here. For the gardening buff there's the American Rose Center, with winding paths, babbling brooks and the fragrant scent of some of the grandest and rarest roses. And the Ark-La-Tex Antique and Classic Vehicle Museum offers an impressive assembly of antique fire trucks, vintage motorcycles, Graham trucks and Dodge cars, as well as the duds those dashing drivers wore on the road.
Travel east to Monroe, Louisiana and treat yourself to a riverboat ride on the scenic Ouachita River. Monroe is also the home of the first Coca-Cola bottler, pharmacist Joseph Biedenharn. You can tour his home, Biedenharn Museum & Gardens, full of old Coca-Cola memorabilia and a fascinating bible museum with a Guttenberg Bible.
If you're looking for relaxation, check out the small towns of northern Louisiana and check into a local bed & breakfast with a big front porch, bottomless sweet tea, and homemade cobbler á la mode, made with home-grown Ruston peaches. And if you like to sleep under the stars, you'll stay a little longer with so much to do and see in Kisatchie National Forest.
Yes, there's plenty to explore off the beaten path. You'll find a toy museum housed in a 1938 railway caboose in Bernice; the grave of Moses Rose, the only survivor of the Alamo at the old Ferguson Cemetery in Logansport; and a charming tavern in the once bustling steamboat town of Columbia where you can get to know all the history and local gossip in under an hour.
