Weird, Wacky & Wild South

A TRAVEL BLOG

Oddities & Originals

Off-Kilter & Off-Beat

Adventures & OMG's

Weird, Wacky & Wild South is written by the equally wacky food & travel writer

Cheré Dastugue Coen. Follow as this veteran journalist hits Southern backroads and byways.

Or grab one of her many novels, written under the pen name of Cherie Claire and available at all online bookstores.

Cheré Dastugue Coen

3 days ago
5 min

Traveling the ‘Gumbo Trail’

When fall arrives, it's 'Gumbo Weather!'

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Saturdays Down South: SEC Football Traditions

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Sep 14
7 min

Saturdays Down South: SEC Football Traditions

Yeers, cheers and mascots run the gamut in a region that goes crazy for the sport.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Sep 6
3 min

Beignets Are Not a Laughing Matter!

The Beignet Fest returns to New Orleans on Sept. 24.

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Southern Writer Spotlight: Bellamy Gayle

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Sep 2
5 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Bellamy Gayle

Death lurks in unexpected places in New Orleans mystery.

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Southern Writer Spotlight: Victor L. Schmitt

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Aug 26
3 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Victor L. Schmitt

Memoir teaches others how to find their true purpose and think outside the box.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Aug 23
3 min

Happy Birthday National Parks

This Thursday (Aug. 25, 2022) marks the 106th birthday of the National Park Service.

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Southern Writer Spotlight: Sharon Marchisello

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Aug 19
5 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Sharon Marchisello

Author tackles Alzheimer's in new mystery.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Aug 17
5 min

The South’s Official Cocktails

Give it to the South to come up with official cocktails for their towns and states.

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Southern Writer Spotlight: Genevieve Essig

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Aug 15
9 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Genevieve Essig

Author takes readers on a journey to Amelia Island, Florida.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Aug 13
4 min

It's Time Again to Storm the Sazerac

Take a trip back in time at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans and enjoy the city's official cocktail!

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Aug 9
4 min

Big View from Big Walker Lookout

Big Walker Lookout, and nearby Wytheville, Virginia, offer the perfect nature-town combination getaway.

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Southern Writer Spotlight: Patricia Bradley

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Aug 5
3 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Patricia Bradley

Mississippi author Patricia Bradley takes readers on a trip down the Natchez Trace.

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Berry College: 14 acres to every student

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Aug 2
1 min

Berry College: 14 acres to every student

Berry College in Georgia sits on the world's largest campus.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jul 29
4 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Lisa Black

Lisa's "Red Flags," the beginning of a new mystery series, debuts today.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jul 26
3 min

You Can Win and Eat Your Cake, Too

The Morean Arts Center of St. Petersburg is looking for the finest cupcake and winners take home a unique piece of art.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jul 24
4 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Lynn Cahoon

Tennessee author Lynn Cahoon writes several mystery series set in New Orleans.

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Southern Writer Spotlight: Heather Weidner

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jul 22
5 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Heather Weidner

Heather Weidner writes mysteries set in her home state of Virginia.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jul 20
3 min

Get Your Mojo Working

Looking for a little summer lovin’? How about some mojo magic?

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Happiness once came in a small metal box

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jul 14
2 min

Happiness once came in a small metal box

Relieve childhood memories at the Lunchbox Museum in Columbus, Ga.

26 views2 comments

Southern Writer Spotlight: Davida G. Breier

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jul 7
4 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Davida G. Breier

Davida Breier's “Sinkhole” is a suspenseful, darkly comic, coming-of-age tale immersed in 1980s Central Florida.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jul 1
1 min

Stranger Things at The Lucky Rabbit

The Lucky Rabbit in Hattiesburg recreates scenes from the Netflix hit "Stranger Things."

263 views0 comments

Southern Writer Spotlight: Dan Petrosini

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jun 29
2 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Dan Petrosini

Dan Petrosini of Florida is the author of several mystery and suspense series.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jun 24
3 min

Elvis is in the Building

See the movie and then visit the real thing. For 22 years, Elvis Presley experienced great fame and fortune with his manager, Colonel Tom...

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Southern Writer Spotlight: Nancy J. Cohen

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jun 21
5 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Nancy J. Cohen

Florida author Nancy J. Cohen writes the Bad Hair Day Mysteries.

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'Little Grand Canyon' in Louisiana? Well, kind of.

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jun 18
2 min

'Little Grand Canyon' in Louisiana? Well, kind of.

Longleaf Vista in the Kisatchie Forest of Louisiana offers a gorgeous view and a 1.5-mile trail down to a bayou.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jun 16
3 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Jane Tesh

Jane Tesh writes several Southern mystery series.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jun 13
4 min

Cheers to National Bourbon Day

June 14 in National Bourbon Day and we're here to celebrate that spirit.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jun 12
2 min

Southerners love to pose with rocks

Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga may take the prize for the photos snapped.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jun 9
2 min

Show Your Stripes on Seersucker Day

National Seersucker Day is June 9 and it's especially celebrated in New Orleans, where the seersucker suit was born.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jun 7
2 min

The Smallest Church in the South?

The Chapel of the Madonna in White Castle, Louisiana, is arguably the smallest church in the South — if not the world!

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Southern Writer Spotlight: A.C. Mason/Anne Clayre Mason

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jun 1
3 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: A.C. Mason/Anne Clayre Mason

A.C. Mason's novels feature Susan Foret, mystery writer, and are set in South Louisiana.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

May 25
3 min

The Witch Tree of Old Louisville

The Witch Tree of Louisville has a strange history and a following that continues today.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

May 18
1 min

The Three-legged cat of Natchez

A limping stray cat in Natchez, Mississippi, captured the hearts of City Hall.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

May 13
3 min

Southern Writer Spotlight: Mike Nemeth

Spotlight on Author Mike Nemeth.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

May 5
2 min

Authentic Mexico in downtown Atlanta

If you’re searching for true Mexican cuisine and less of the commercialized fare, take a drive down Buford Highway in Atlanta.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

May 2
2 min

Reliving an Alabama Distillery Raid

The South loves a good reenactment, including a law enforcement raid on a moonshine still.

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Best Winery in the U.S. is in Gatlinburg?

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Apr 26
2 min

Best Winery in the U.S. is in Gatlinburg?

Mydatingadviser.com studied more than 700 U.S. wineries and the top three were in Tennessee!

66 views3 comments

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Apr 20
1 min

The Odd Bayou Art of Kenny Hill

Bricklayer Kenny Hill settled in the small bayou town of Chauvin in 1988, erecting a tent on a bayou-side lot while he built his home.

29 views2 comments

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Apr 15
3 min

The buried leg of John Bell Hood

Alongside the road in the woods of northwest Georgia lies a grave containing only a leg.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Mar 30
3 min

The Demise of Jasper 'Jack' Daniel

Jasper Newton Daniel, otherwise known as Jack, created one of the world's finest whiskeys. But an impulsive moment took his life.

35 views2 comments

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Mar 12
3 min

New Orleans Events for LGBTQ+ Visitors

New Orleans is a welcoming place, a town where visitors can release their inhibitions and don their natural personalities.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Mar 4
2 min

This Weekend is All About Daffodils

Southern gardens offer ways to honor that brilliant harbinger of spring - the daffodil.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Mar 4
3 min

Jazz Fest's Baby Steps

Tulane University Special Collections honors the New Orleans Jazz Fest with “Music IS the Scene: Jazz Fest’s First Decade, 1970-1979.”

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Mar 2
6 min

Writer Spotlight: Jason P. Reed

Jason Reed writes novels about his home in South Louisiana, what he calls "a wonderfully weird, welcoming place."

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Feb 25
3 min

Kimberly Willis Holt's Louisiana Sky

Kimberly Willis Holt is an award-winning author who incorporates experiences in Louisiana in her youth within her stories.

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What’s your 2022 word? Mine is Eco-Tourism

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Feb 22
2 min

What’s your 2022 word? Mine is Eco-Tourism

The beauty of the South is in its people, traditions, its vast cultures derived from a myriad of diverse peoples and its road trips.

21 views1 comment

Get rockin’ at Georgia’s 10th Monadnock Madness

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Feb 22
3 min

Get rockin’ at Georgia’s 10th Monadnock Madness

The natural uniqueness of Panola, Arabia and Kennesaw mountains outside Atlanta is why the state offers Monadnock Madness during March.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jan 31
2 min

The Falling of Age

A guest blog post by Karen Ott Mayer, who writes from Moon Hollow Farm, located among towering trees in north Mississippi’s Hill Country.

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Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jan 24
3 min

Ziplining a life experience. Who knew?

Ziplining over Coldwater Creek in Northwest Florida with Adventures Unlimited.

23 views1 comment

Thousands haunt Charleston's Old City Jail

Cheré Dastugue Coen

Jan 11
2 min

Thousands haunt Charleston's Old City Jail

Bulldog Tours of Charleston offers a creepy look inside one of the South's most haunted places.

16 views0 comments

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