Getting the flavor of...Texas’s Louisiana neighbors

Texas’s Louisiana neighbors

Lake Charles may be just a short drive from the Texas border, but “it’s 100 percent Louisiana,” said Helen Anders in The Austin American-Statesman. If you enjoy gumbo, zydeco, and “a mayor who has way too much fun,” there are nights you can find all three at Steamboat Bill’s restaurant, given that Mayor Randy Roach isn’t above sitting in on washboard with the band. The day I visited, I saw an alligator out back, plus a guy dressed as a gator dancing inside. To figure out “what makes the city tick,” try stopping at the Imperial Calcasieu Museum, where artifacts and dioramas illuminate the city’s 18th-century origins. Behind the museum stands a 400-year-old tree where the city’s founder is said to have tried—and failed—to kill his wife after she bedded a pirate. You’ll find Lake Charles plenty festive every day, “but for the full aaaaaeeeee,” come during one of its many festivals. During one, Mayor Roach walks a pirate’s plank.

Las Vegas’s new hangover bus

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Sin City tourists have a new way to bounce back after “drinking in all the nightlife Las Vegas has to offer,” said Julie Jacobson and Ken Ritter in the Associated Press. Dr. Jason Burke, a certified anesthesiologist, now cruises the casinos in a Greyhound-size bus that he calls “Hangover Heaven” because clients can stumble in to get hooked up to an IV bag with vitamins. One of Burke’s first patients had nothing but good things to say about the service. “My palms aren’t sweating anymore,” he told Burke’s assistant, shortly before proclaiming, “I’m starting to feel great. This is really cool.” Burke doesn’t accept drunks, just people suffering hangovers, and his services start at $90. Inside the bus, Burke has created a thoroughly professional, clinical atmosphere—up to a point. “The casino scenery passing outside the windows, the flat-screen TVs, the ceiling mirror, and the aide in the suggestive nurse outfit? Hey, it’s Vegas.”