Day Two - Tabasco

Tabasco

Today we went to the Tabasco company on Avery Island. Regan decided to spend the day with Gram and Baby Alli, so it was just David, Riley and I. We stopped for lunch at a place called Charlie's in Franklin (the city where David was born) and Riley actually ate Fried Alligator. He really enjoyed it. David got some shrimp, so he was a happy camper. We then went on to Avery Island, we had been there once before when Riley was a baby, I'll have to dig out some of those old pictures.

Avery Island is a salt island, thought to be as deep as Mt Everest is high. They grow their peppers there, pick them when they are the perfect red color, add some salt, grind them up and put them in oak barrels, cover the barrels with salt and let them ferment for 3 years, then take the mash, mix it with vinegar and stir it for 28 days, then bottle it. All of Tabasco sauce is bottled there on Avery Island, even though most of the peppers are actually grown in South and Central America. That was our lesson for the day since Riley missed school. David really wanted to go back there because they sell their mash in a giant bag for 5 bucks, and he LOVES Tabasco, he can't wait to get home and start using it. I don't mind it, but I don't have it running in my veins like he does.

Then we drove to Delcambre (pronounced Del-come) to see where David used to live, and I guess that town was hit hard with some flooding recently. David's uncle lives there, their house is up on a hill and they said the water came up to their door, but not inside, so that's good. It's weird to see all the houses on stilts though. Just odd to have to worry about that all the time.

Back home for some sausage and chicken gumbo and some shrimp etoufee. Went to bed early cause we had a fishing trip planned for 5 am.