Destinations Archives - Page 2 of 5

Laura Plantation is Louisiana’s best house tour

Laura Plantation was built in 1805 in the traditional Creole colonial manner with a raised brick basement and briquette-entre-poteaux construction. Growing up, I never heard of Laura Plantation; but over the past two decades it has been the buzz of Louisiana’s plantation parade. Hard to believe, but this historical gem has been hidden in plain sight within the cluster of other notorious homes like Oak Alley, St. Joseph, and San Francisco. And having seen nearly every plantation across my home state and many house museums around the world, visiting Laura has been on my list. Last year at a wedding in Houston I met Jay Schexnaydre, one of the managers of Laura Plantation. He encouraged me to visit, ...

By Troy Broussard|2017-03-18T10:16:36-05:00March 16, 2017|Destinations|

Tourism during, and Surviving, the Bayou Classic

Bullets rained on Bourbon Street on November 27th, 2016, as an argument between two thugs escalated. When the smoke cleared, ten people had been shot, one fatally; and none of the victims had anything to do with the original altercation—none were intended targets. The shooting erupted because of a previous quarrel between the two, and took place a few hours after the conclusion of the Bayou Classic, an annual Saturday night football game between Grambling State and Southern University. It is a dangerous weekend in New Orleans; and this is my own story of tourism during, and surviving, the Bayou Classic. I made the mistake of a trip to New Orleans during Thanksgiving holiday some years ago; and I experienced ...

By Troy Broussard|2017-02-25T20:18:24-05:00February 23, 2017|Destinations, TroysArt|

Memories, Museums, and Moonlight in Vermont

The last of Vermont's seasonal color on a forest road at Hildene. My whole familiarity of Vermont came from Newhart, a popular CBS sitcom in the 1980s starring comedian Bob Newhart as Dick Loudon, an innkeeper in rural Vermont; the 200-year old Stratford Inn becomes the epicenter for illogical behavior and odd characters (like Tom Poston as George Utley; and Larry, Darryl, and the his other brother Darryl). George Utley: Dick, I cleared out that obstruction in the chimney. Dick Loudon: Thanks George. What was it? George Utley: I don't know but when I woke it up, it ran away. And given a list of places to travel, the People’s Republic of Vermont was not near the top. However, ...

By Troy Broussard|2016-11-26T19:40:19-05:00November 26, 2016|Destinations|

I ate Portland, Maine

Steamed lobster and clams, classic Maine fare, from J's Oyster Bar on Portland's Historic Waterfront. When I was a kid Alka-Seltzer coined the popular slogan, I can’t believe I ate the whole thing. And my recent trip to Portland, Maine, leaves me with the same sentiment because I ate Portland. A variety of Damariscotta oysters at Eventide Oyster Co., downtown Portland. Who knew that Portland was such a foodie town? But when lobsters, clams, fish, and shrimp pulled freshly from the Atlantic are mixed with the plethora of New England grown produce and locally-raised dairy and livestock, it results in what Bon Appétit has called America’s Foodiest Small Town. I have visited Portland before and ate ...

By Troy Broussard|2016-11-08T15:22:32-05:00November 8, 2016|Destinations, Food & Beverage|

Hildene, where you visit the Lincolns

Hildene in Manchester, Vermont, was the summer home of the Lincolns. Hidden in the picturesque mountains of western Vermont, just outside the village of Manchester, is a house museum called Hildene, where you visit the Lincolns. And a house museum it is, indeed. House museums under the TroysArt Destinations tab are usually highly recommended to get a sense of the cultural and societal influences of an area. But the summer home owned by the heirs of Abraham Lincoln is not only a house but also a shrine to one of the country’s most significant presidents. The formal dining room of the Lincoln family at Hildene. Robert Todd Lincoln was the oldest son of Abraham and Mary ...

By Troy Broussard|2016-11-08T00:54:55-05:00November 7, 2016|Destinations|

There are problems with parking in Galveston

My car with a ticket while parking in Galveston. Regular readers know that I have been very kind to Galveston. My posts such as Gung Ho on Galveston or Chasing Ghosts at Hotel Galvez are two examples; type Galveston into TroysArt Search and the plethora of posts pop up. But the recent occurrence of getting a parking ticket has me flummoxed. There are problems with parking in Galveston. We all know that the recent parking situation on the Seawall is ridiculous. In 2012 Galveston instituted a pay-by-phone system and on several occasions it has taken me up to twenty minutes trying to register my car by phone in order, for example, to patronize Jimmy’s on the Pier. Jimmy’s ...

By Troy Broussard|2016-08-11T16:11:00-05:00August 11, 2016|Destinations|

Art in Washington DC

Richard Milhous Nixon by Norman Rockwell, 1968, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; donated to the people of the United States of America by the Richard Nixon Foundation. I was in Washington DC last week to visit a friend—I had not seen Elizabeth Arledge since we graduated high school, and having never been to DC looked forward to a tour of her stomping ground. When asked what I wanted to see I suggested a couple of monuments and a few wine bars; but I also hoped to see some great museums while there. And boy did we! I was asked upon my return how I liked the art in Washington DC. And I can offer a simile in answer to that ...

By Troy Broussard|2016-04-29T14:19:23-05:00April 23, 2016|Destinations, Galleries & Museums|

Stumps are brightly painted at College Park Cemetery

College Park Cemetery, Houston, Texas. Sometimes it only takes a few hours to discover something interesting in your own backyard. For years I passed the overgrown and neglected parcel of land on the eastern border of River Oaks on West Dallas—always told that it was an ancient slave cemetery. I guess it is poignant that I visited the site a couple days ago, being as it is Black History Month. And I was particularly intrigued by the restoration and the folk art—all of the stumps are brightly painted at College Park Cemetery. College Park Cemetery is one of the three remaining African-American cemeteries from the era of segregation in Houston. Founded in 1896, it is believed that some ...

By Troy Broussard|2016-02-18T20:26:58-05:00February 18, 2016|Destinations|

Chasing ghosts at Hotel Galvez

An oil of Bernardo de Galvez anchors the haunted corridor at Hotel Galvez. My favorite nearby get-away is Galveston, Texas (TroysArt – Gung Ho on Galveston); and without question my favorite hotel on the island is Hotel Galvez (Troysart – The art of escape, the Hotel Galvez). This week I visited with Lake Charles gal-pal Courtenay Deats Guillory. And for as many times as I have visited the Galvez, this was the first time I ever heard of paranormal occurrences. That is how Court and I ended up chasing ghosts at Hotel Galvez. According to concierge Melissa Hall the most notorious spirit haunting the halls is a bride-to-be named Audra who stayed in room 501 in the 1950s. When her ...

By Troy Broussard|2015-11-28T20:12:00-05:00November 27, 2015|Destinations|

The art of yachting Puerto Vallarta

Kirk Longmire, Troy Broussard, & Kristy Phillips toasting on a yacht in Puerto Vallarta. Paraphrasing Carly Simon, I walked into the party like I was walking onto a yacht… and I was walking onto a yacht! It was a party too. TroysArt readers know that I recently spent time on the west coast of Mexico and this as promised is the second of two posts about the adventure (see: TroysArt – Our swank soiree in Sayulita) specifically dedicated to the art of yachting Puerto Vallarta. But first a refresher of our cast of characters. We were all guests of Rob Taylor and Kristy Phillips celebrating Rob’s birthday in Sayulita. Also present were Rob’s son Trey Taylor and his girlfriend ...

By Troy Broussard|2015-10-20T02:35:36-05:00September 26, 2015|Destinations, Lifestyle|

var today = new Date() var options = { year: 'numeric', month: 'long', day: 'numeric' } var formattedDate = today.toLocaleDateString('en-US', options) document.write(formattedDate)