We drove to Days Inn in Lafayette, LA on Monday but decided that there really wasn't anywhere nearby for dinner. So - we drove back to Super 8, which was right near the freeway we would be getting back on to go to Houston. No problem - they had a room and there was a Shoney's right next door. I started to wonder if we had made the right choice when a police car slowly cruised through the parking lot of the Super 8, both motels next door and the Shoney's lot. We walked out to our car to bring our bags in, and a young woman was picked up at the back door of the motel by 2 men in a big black car - she got in the back and they drove away. We were sitting in our room when another woman in a bathrobe came and sat down on the curb outside our window (ground floor), had a cigarette and then went back inside. Dinnertime came and we walked next door for a bite to eat - excellent by the way. I had a chicken stir-fry skillet - closest thing I've found to teriyaki since we've been on the road. As we walked into the lobby of the motel, there was another young lady using the guest phone - no big deal. We got to our room and realized that there were a couple of things that we left in our car. As we walked outside to get them, this same young lady went up to this very rough looking fella that was walking in the parking lot. All things considered, I was thinking this Super 8 had not been the best choice - not too super! Neither of us slept well, between the very uncomfortable bed and people getting ice (2 doors down from our room) at all hours of the night! In addition to that, it was very warm and every time I turned the A/C on I started sneezing and coughing from the overpowering air "freshener".
Tuesday morning we drove to Avery Island, which was a little bit of back tracking from yesterday to tour the Tabasco factory. We got out of the car and were met with the very pungent aroma of Tabasco - quite different from the lovely cinnamon aroma from Pacific/Kerry. We had a very informative although brief tour of the factory - it was mostly information about the product, but it was fascinating. Every single bottle of Tabasco sauce, including the new ones (such as green/jalapeno, habanero, chipotle, garlic pepper) are bottled at this facility. It is produced by the McIlhenny Co, a fifth generation family business that was started in 1868. The peppers are mixed with a little salt (that is actually mined from Avery Island), ground up into a mash and stored in oak barrels to ferment for 3 years. The liquid is then separated from the skin and seeds, mixed with vinegar and stirred intermittently for 28 days. Once this process is completed, it can be bottled - over 700,000 bottles (of assorted sizes) are produced every day - they have a 4 day (2 shifts of 12 hours) work week 52 weeks/year. All components of the peppers are used either by McIlhenny or other companies. I sampled "sweet and spicy" and "jalapeno" flavored ice cream - it was really quite tasty - I could get used to it! Mike didn't participate in the taste test - he prefers much more traditional ice cream. I'm glad we visited the Tabasco plant, but I wish we had more time so we could explore Avery Island and its Jungle Gardens and Bird City.
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