Day 50 of our Trip to FL and SE

On the Road Again Wednesday March 16. Wow, where has the time gone!!! We have been on the road for 7 weeks. Or the question...where would we like to go? Who, what, where....can we learn about!

Our trip today was to Avery Island....where salt and pepper come together. Avery Island is the home of the Mcllhenney Company. Since 1868 they have been producing Tabasco Sauce.


30 acres of peppers are grown every year, but the peppers are also grown in South and Central America. This way if one area has a problem, they have other sources of the pepper. It takes over 3 years to produce the sauce.


We had a tour of the factory.



Pepper mash is stored in barrels with salt on top.

Avery Island has a salt dome on it. Salt is used to season the sauce but also on top of the barrels of peppers as they age. The underground salt dome is larger than Mt. Everest. It is 8 miles beneath the earth's surface.


After the peppers have aged for three years in oak barrel, vinegar is added and the sauce is aged for 28 days.

We tasted sweet and spicy ice cream and jalapeño ice cream. Ellie could eat the sweet and spicy, Phil enjoyed both but said.... It's amazing how something so cold can be so hot.

The Avery family has developed a Jungle Garden.


Wisteria


Lots of azaleas in bloom, here in front of the wisteria arch...a car could drive through.


Bees love the azaleas and wisteria. Lots of bees.


Most camellias are no longer in prime condition, but this one is.

The snowy egrets were facing extinction because the plumes were used for lady's hat in the early 1900's. Edward McIlhenny raised 8 wild egrets. They returned the next spring and every year, growing to a rookery of thousands.








The beautiful white plumes.



Once again so many live oak trees.



Phil by the Cleveland tree. Used as a survey tree in the early 1800's. Tree is about 300 years old.


Entering the Japanese Garden




Next stop was Shadow on the Teche, a mansion built in 1834.


Every home we have toured has its own character. So interesting to see and hear of the people who lived in them and the history of that time.



Another HUGE live oak tree.

Back to the campsite and do laundry. A perk of staying at a LA State Park is no charge for using the washing machine and dryer. Thank you, LA.

Location:Cajun Country, LA