So, you’re new in town, and maybe you’re going to be here for the next five or ten years, depending on how diligent a student you are. You will have down time, and at some point you will look for things to do that pull you out of academia and into arts, culture, and entertainment. And that’s where we come in. We made our own bucket lists, Louisiana style, and we hope they will inspire you to seek and explore all the awesomeness that Baton Rouge and its neighboring cities have to offer.

Jake Clapp, writer/lover of vinyl/pyromaniac

• Eat an illegal-sized burrito at Izzo’s.
• Go skim boarding on the Parade Grounds after a heavy rain.
• Get the grilled cheese and tomato soup at Chelsea’s Café.
• Jump into a flash rave in the middle of the LSU quad.
• Find the lone apple tree on LSU’s campus.
• Take part in the LSU undie-run.
• Take part in the LSU Zombie Walk.
• Walk the entire path of the Baton Rouge Gallery’s brick labyrinth without a shortcut.
• Catch Music and Movies on the Lawn at the Baton Rouge Gallery.
• Get a milkshake from the LSU Dairy Store.
• Drive out to the historic St. Gabriel Catholic Church, built in 1769.
• Hang your underwear on the ceiling of Slinky’s Bar.
• Put on the spandex for Spanish Moon’s 80s night.

Holly Phillips, writer/teacher/social bug

• Visit the Abita brewery and/or the Abita Brew Pub in Abita Springs.
• Eat a burger at Raoul’s on Highland Road.
• Tour The Myrtle’s Plantation in St. Francisville.
• See an exhibit at the LSU Museum of Art.
• Watch the sunset from the Tsunami Terrace.
• Enjoy a Bananas Foster Cupcake from Cupcake Couture.
• Ice skate at the River Center.
• Bowl until 2 a.m. at All-Star Lanes.
• Eat blackened alligator from The Chimes.
• Tour Tin Roof brewery.
• Visit the Audubon Zoo.
• Eat a Peanut Butter Burger from Mug Shots.
• Browse eco-friendly goods at Noelie Harmon.
• Enjoy a local, homemade Panini at Magpie Café.
• Spend an afternoon at the Greek Amphitheatre.
• Eat a crawfish burrito at Mestizo.
• Tour the Old Governor’s Mansion.

Noel Marcantel, photographer/goofball/U.S. Marine

• Roll down the Indian Mounds.
• Watch a lightning storm on the levee.
• Cautiously visit Tigerland on a Thursday night.
• Get cheese fries at The Chimes.
• Run the lakes.
• Run the levee.
• Run the Happy’s 5K.
• Ascend to the top of the State Capitol building.
• Eat a Raoul’s burger.
• Attend a concert at The House of Blues NOLA.
• Tour the U.S.S. Kidd.
• Attend LSU Salutes on the Parade Grounds.
• Take a goldfish or scorpion shot at Lucy’s Retired Surfers Bar.
• Attend an LSU Mainstage, LSU Lab, or Swine Palace production.
• Dress up for the Carlotta St. Block Party.
• Make friends at a stranger’s tailgate.
• Attend an LSU Soccer game.

Eric Freeman, opinionated writer/sports fan/political nut

• Watch a full moon at the Highland Road Park Observatory.
• Eat blackened alligator at the Chimes.
• Tip Mr. Leroy for a song outside the Chimes.
• Go “Around the World” at the Chimes.
• Do the Carlotta Street Halloween Party.
• Get stuck in traffic on I-12, east of the 10/12 split, during Friday rush hour (it’s a rite of passage).
• Get to know at least one member of the Consuming Fire Fellowship preachers at Free Speech Alley.
• Go to four different bars on Third Street.
• Tour the Old State Capitol.
• Ride in the back of a pickup truck across the Mississippi River Bridge (safely).
• Attend halftime at a Southern Jaguars football game.
• Talk to a Mac Genius and a Best Buy “Geek” on the same day.
• Stay up all night and be the first one to have biscuits at Louie’s at 6 a.m.
• Eat 10 “Fire in the Hole” wings at Pluckers (or take the full challenge and try for 25)
• VOTE.
• Write a Letter to the Editor of The Daily Reveille.
• GO TO THE LSU-ALABAMA GAME. (If you can’t get tickets, tailgate).

Keeley Kristin, observational enthusiast/writer/film fanatic

• Work up the nerve to go through The 13th Gate (but only if I can have ninja weapons).
• Go to Blue Bayou Water Park.
• Go zip-lining at Tiki Tubing.
• LSU’s zombie walk!!
• Catch the Pink Floyd laser shows at the Planetarium downtown.
• Hike Tunica Hills.
• Take a haunted tour of New Orleans for Halloween.
• Eat a Cheeseburger in Paradise at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant in Nola.
• Eat beignets at Café du Monde in the French Quarter.
• Stay overnight at The Myrtles.
• Watch the Tiger Band drum line warm up on game days.
• Go to every day of the New Orleans Film Festival.
• Take a ride on an airboat and feed an alligator.
• Check out the lighting of the Oriental Garden in St. Francisville on Aug. 25
• Complete a tattooed work of art on my back.
• Walk through LSU’s Enchanted Forest without some damn squirrel darting out at me.

Mark “Boomer” Redmond, author/cultural enthusiast

• Make use of the new seating areas in downtown.
• Succeed at making something grow in the fallow soil of State Street.
• Make people more aware of the horrible gentrification going on around Baton Rouge.
• Make people care about gentrification, and what it means to them.
• Win that damned KLSU scavenger hunt.
• Get to Louie’s early enough for biscuits.
• Futurebirds at Chelsea’s, Aug. 25!
• End Baton Rouge’s love affair with musical theatre (it’s an assignment from the Divine)
• Digital paintings by John F. Simon, Aug. 11-Sept. 23.
• Are you aware of how many families have lost the affordable apartments in which they were living so that they could send their kids to good schools?
• Apartments that were turned into condominiums that now rent for over three times their previous rent? Gentrification. It’s a bad thing.
• Pick up the Daily Reveille and actually read an article, rather than just fill in the crossword.
• Actually go to the farmer’s market, not just pretend that I did.
• 9th Annual Louisiana Book Festival on October 27!
• Spend a whole day on the parade grounds.
• Truly eat a peach ice cream cone from the LSU Dairy Store, not merely consume it.
• Keep my cool when contraflow makes getting home from work literally impossible.

Cody Holden, writer/musician/habla Español

• Go ‘round the world at Chimes.
• Stomach the “Scorpion Shot” at Lucy’s Retired Surfer’s Bar.
• Take the Tiger Trails night bus out Downtown.
• Get free jambalaya from tailgaters!
• Take the La. Swift bus to NOLA (and back).
• Rock out at the Phil Brady’s Blues Jam.
• Win one trivia night around town.
• Red Star Karaoke.
• Check out the “Realm of the Tiger” at BR Zoo.
• Run, drink, and be happy at Happy’s Running Club on Tuesdays.
• Grab lunch at Kaminari for unlimited sushi and hibachi under $10.
• Snap your fingers for River Writers at Boudreaux and Thibodeaux’s.
• Check out the Baton Rouge Blues Festival.
• Try for a “turkey” at Don Carter’s lanes.
• Be a Caniac at the original State and Highland Cane’s.
• Celebrate completing this bucket list with a premium cigar from Churchill’s.