Tabasco factory at Avery Island, La.

We had a busy day today.  We got up and headed for Avery Island this morning.  We wanted to see the Tabasco Factory.

Avery Island is home to the famed Tabasco factory.  It also is a salt mine.  Mr. McIlhenny was an explorer, writer, business executive, naturalist, conservationist and half a dozen other "ists".  He authored many books on nature, such as the "Autobiography of an Egret", "Bird City" and the "Life History of the Alligator".  He saved the snowy egret from extinction and he manufactured Tabasco sauce.

 This is salt from the salt mine.

 This is the bottling portion of the factory.  These bottles were headed for Germany.  This is the only place that makes and bottles Tabasco sauce.  If you buy it in Germany or China, it came from La.

This is the count for the day while we were there.  She said they bottle around 700,000 a day.

After looking at the factory, we went into the store.  I didn't know there was so many different kinds of Tabasco sauce or so many products with Tabasco in it.  We even had Jalapeño Ice Cream!

 We left the store and went over to the Jungle Gardens.  
 Of Course the first thing we saw wasn't gardens, it was an alligator.

 The moss draped live oaks were huge and beautiful.

 This pathway led to a 800 yr old Buddha. It is suppose to be one of the finest in the states.

 The Buddha sits in the Pagoda on top of the hill.  He is surrounded by 7 hills.

 Here he is.  He is sitting on a Lotus blossum.

 We ran into this fellow along the way.  You can't tell but this turtle is about 12-14" in diameter!

More oaks.

By the time we left Avery Island we were hungry.  we stopped to eat at. Duffies Diner.

As you can see it was a 50's style diner.  I had a fried shrimp po-boy and it was delish! Doug and Libbie had hamburgers and Jim had fried chicken.  All was good.

 Doug and Jim finished off with a dipped ice cream cone.  Yum.
Since this is such a long post I will finish it with part II.  Our trip to New Iberia to see Shadows on the Teche!