Keeping it right on the lake and at lunch

Join Sara Hebert and Chris Jay as they go on dates and share their local activities and restaurant choices.

As I approached the ripe age of 30 last month, I panicked. What had I been doing with my life for the last 30 years?

Nothing exciting, really. I never broke any rules. Never did anything crazy. Chris sensed my anxiety about my birthday and booked the perfect day out with my pals: flyboarding on Cross Lake with Ark-La- Tex Flyboard.

It’s always been my dream to become Marty McFly from “Back to the Future,” cruising around on a little hoverboard, kicking out some sweet moves.

Ark-La-Tex Flyboard has the closet alternative: a board that thrusts itself above water at Caddo Lake. It is literally a hoverboard above water. You are atop a board propelled into the air by two powerful jets of water. You are flying. For a moment, you are Marty McFly.

I’m going to be honest: I was horrible at flyboarding. It was still an incredible experience for the few seconds that I was in the air. My three companions, on the other hand (my talented husband; John, a former semi-pro skateboard; and Lucas, a frequent hangglider), were pros from the moment they jumped into the water.

Here are a few useful tips that we gathered from our flyboarding experience:

1. Watch a video or talk to someone who has flyboarded before. We were lucky enough to listen to instructors Rich and Paula give tips to another flyboarder, and it was enormously helpful.

2. The key to getting out of the water and into the air is perfect form. You need to have straight knees and toes/ankles bent all the way up. It’s hard to do, but not impossible with a little practice.

3. Don’t give up. The one time I got into the air for a few seconds was worth the 15-20 minutes flailing in the water. It was one of the best experiences of my life.

If you’re interested in taking flight, visit Ark-La-Tex Flyboarding on the Web at arklatexflyboard.com.

–Sara Hebert

Recently, I found myself with about 20 minutes left in a lunch hour that hadn’t gone as planned, hungry enough to eat a horse. It was a Tuesday, and I’d tried to patronize two new restaurants in Bossier City, only to find that both were closed on Tuesdays. I’d resigned myself to eating my emergency ramen (I keep a package of Top Ramen noodles in my desk drawer at work for just such occasions), when I looked up and saw the sign for Captain Louisiana Fish & Chicken, a no-frills fried seafood joint located at 1770 E. Texas St. in Bossier City. I wondered to myself: “How bad could a place called ‘Captain Louisiana’ possibly be?” As it turns out, Captain Louisiana isn’t just good: It’s kind of great. Especially if you love Philly cheesesteak. The majority of the menu consists of fried and grilled seafood, as well as salads and sandwiches. A huge display counter filled with several varieties of cake – including the delightfully ubiquitous peanut butter sheet cake found in most Shreveport soul restaurants – tempts diners as they order at the counter. I was overwhelmed by the huge menu and asked the waitress what she’d recommend for a firsttime visitor.

“If it’s your first time here, you have to eat the cheesesteak,” she said, pointing out a photo of the sandwich in question.

When you’re in a place with the word “gizzards” painted on the awning, a world-class Philly cheesesteak may be the last thing you’d expect to find on the menu. But Captain Louisiana’s cheesesteak is seriously delicious.

An enormous, soft hoagie roll is packed with thinly sliced steak, bell peppers, onions and mushrooms. While piping hot, the mixture is topped with two slices of provolone cheese that melt immediately into the sandwich. The peppers and onions are cooked almost to the point of caramelization, and the entire package is dusted with what tasted, to me, like Greek salt. With a price tag of about $5, this was one of the best cheap lunches I’ve had in Shreveport-Bossier City.

–Chris Jay