Fragile pink blossoms adorn winter-shorn trees as spring sunshine brings northwest Louisiana, peach country, to colorful life. Ruston, at the heart of the region, plays host to the annual Louisiana Peach Festival come June, and boasts, the rest of the year, a lively population of university students and the arts-oriented.

Make a stop early on in your stay at the Lincoln Parish Museum for an introduction to area history and art. Military buffs can brush up on everything from Civil War weaponry to Gulf War machinery on a tour through the Louisiana Military Museum, but don't linger so long you miss the chance to take the family on to Idea Place, an interactive science spot at Louisiana Tech University. Those interested in creativity of the artistic kind might want to swing by a Ruston gallery to pick up some souvenir to for the walls back home.

This was once outlaw country, the haunt of famous gun-toting pair, Bonnie and Clyde. There are a number of associated sights to check out when you're legally in town, like the Authentic Bonnie and Clyde Museum in Gibsland, 30 miles west of Ruston, or the spot where the two fired off their final rounds, the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Site. There's a further museum dedicated to local history and outlaw lore in Arcadia, the Bienville Depot Museum.

Ruston is 77 miles from Natchitoches and east of both Arcadia and Gibsland.