Avery Island, deep in the heart of cajun country, is the home of Tabasco. A few weeks ago some friends and I planned a trip to go down there- it’s about two and a half hours west southwest of New Orleans off Highway 90. Last Saturday was our day trip. We left amidst tornado watches under the stormy green sky. Standing outside for just a few moments before leaving, I felt the temperature drop by a good bit as the green tinted clouds screamed past overhead. Lightning and thunderstorms began just seconds after we got into the car. Driving about 50mph out of New Orleans on I-10 and I-310, we found our way to HWY 90 west on the other side of the Mississippi River. From a little past Houma all the way to Avery Island the sky was clear.
The Tabasco Factory Tour was hilarious. We get inside the factory itself to find that it’s pretty small. The way our tour guide read from her script made us wonder if she’d ever read it before- it took all I had not to bust out laughing at the humor of the presentation. Our ten minute video was preceded by our guide’s comments to “let yourself out this door to the right when the video is over.” Sometime just before the video began I mentioned how we should model our Seminary Preview Weekends like this. Oh how great it would be.
After finishing our now self-guided tour, we ran up to the Tabasco Country Store for something to eat and drink. Liz and Nicole sampled all the types of Tabasco, including the Tabasco Soda and the Jalapeno Ice Cream. One lady behind the counter stared at me for a few minutes before finally asking where my chicken was. Apparently my doppleganger visited the Island the day previous, carrying a giant yellow rubber chicken. Interesting.
The other part of Avery Island is its Jungle Gardens. I’ll post about that next.
