Engage your mind and delight your senses in the Sci-Port Discovery Center, which includes a children’s gallery, IMAX theater and hands-on exhibits for all ages that explore the wonders of the universe.

If the Kaffie-Frederick General Mercantile doesn’t have it, you don’t need it. From vintage candy and toys, to practical hardware and trendy gifts, Louisiana’s oldest general store is a retail wonder, down to its 1910 cash register.

The sounds of pickin’ and strummin’ fill the air on Sunday afternoons at this lively music store and gathering place, Tom's Fiddle and Bow. During the week, Tom keeps musicians happy by restoring and repairing old and new violins, violas, cellos and bows.

Book a tasting tour at Three Roll Estate, one of the country’s few estate rum distilleries, and learn how sugar cane grown at nearby Alma Plantation is distilled into an attention-grabbing line of boutique craft rums and hard-to-find rhum agricole.

A weekend jaunt through Louisiana isn’t complete without roadside boudin, and Billy’s Boudin is legendary. Grab a steaming, savory boudin link or a paper bag filled with spicy boudin balls as you ease on down the road. Wash it down with a bottle of cold root beer.

See a butterfly emerge from its chrysalis, stroke a real shark in the touch pool and hear the scream of the howler monkey. The Audubon Nature Institute’s Insectarium, Aquarium of the Americas and Zoo will get you in touch with your wild side.