I've lived in North as well as South La. Currently we live in a small town in North La called Homer. As with anything, there is good and bad here. I can tell you that it's a safe place to live where the people are friendly. There's a beautiful Lake (Lake Claiborne) that's good for fishing and recreational activity which has a beach and state park. There is an equestrian ranch here that offers a summer camp for kids as well as trail rides throughout the year for any age. To me it's the most beautiful part of Louisiana because of the rolling green hills. The downside is that the town is small! There are two grocery stores, three dollar stores and a few restaurants, but that's it. The closest Wal-Mart is in Minden, about 20 minutes away. The largest metro area is Shreveport/Bossier City, 45min. - 1hr. away. There is only one public school, where my boys,(ages 8 and 9) attend, and a private school about 10 minutes away. We are in the "bible belt" so to speak, so people here are a little closed minded about things. You won't find any bars in town, but we do have a little dancing and live music in the square (alcohol and smoke free of course) on some Saturday nights and plenty of churches, mostly Baptist. As far as sporting activities for the kids, there are none that I know of. My boys take karate, art and horseback riding lessons. That's all I've found here so far. One thing that I don't like about this area, the ark-la-tex, is the terrible weather. We are in "tornado alley" which, to me, is worse than living in South La dodging hurricanes. At least you have ample warning of hurricanes so that you can make plans to evacuate. We frequently have severe thunderstorms with hail, straight line winds and tornadoes that seem to come out of nowhere.
As for South La, we lived in Kenner, close to New Orleans between 2001 - 2004. From what I've heard, it's changed a lot since Katrina and not for the better. I can only tell you how it was when I was there. I'm not familiar with the small towns in that vacinity, but Kenner and the surrounding area was a great big melting pot of different races and cultures! The people were accepting free spirits and down to earth, unlike North La where people can be judgemental. If you want a place that offers awesome food as well as a more laid back atmosphere, try Lafayette and Breaux Bridge. I love the size of Lafayette. It's not too small, but not too big either with lots of unique shopping and restaurants. I've never lived there, but visited several times. We just went a few months ago and stayed for a weekend in Breaux Bridge. We ate at a restaurant there called Mulates that's famous for it's food and live music. There was a huge long table of local older ladies (70ish) next to us. They were having a blast drinking their beer and dancing with our boys. The people there know how to have a good time at any age, but still keep it family oriented.
Sorry if I got a little long winded, but hopefully this will help you out a little. Good luck!!!
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