Friday, March 13, 2009

Louisiana

We spent a couple of days in Lafayette, Louisiana. Not really sure why we chose there, except that they have a KOA. But we did have a good time. The first thing we did was go to Avery Island. If you don't know anything about Avery Island, you don't use Tabasco Sauce. Avery Island is where they bottle Tabasco. The only place in the world where Tabasco is bottled. The peppers are grown all over the world (mainly so that in case of a natural disaster or plant disease, they won't lose their whole batch). They have a free tour (it costs $1 to get on the island), which includes a short video and then you get to walk by the bottling area. We were there on a Sunday, so there was nothing going on. And you get a free tiny bottle each of the red and green pepper sauce. There is also a very elaborate country store with everything and anything Tabasco. If you can put a picture of a Tabasco bottle on it, they have it. But they also have a very large food section. I didn't realize that there are 6 kinds of pepper sauce as well as salsa, worstershire, and soy sauce. They even make mustards and mayonaise with Tabasco in it. Anyway...it was fun.

This was out front of the store. It is called Ta-Bass-Co. Cute, huh?

They also have a garden that you can drive through. It's a 4 mile loop and is a very nice drive. (They do charge admission to the gardens.) This was on one of the fences. Didn't realize that this was an issue.

I don't know. Do you think he looks dangerous? I think he looks asleep.

They didn't have any warnings about the turtles. Maybe the dangerous alligator signs are for them.

There is a large colony of nesting Snowy Egrets there. The family has actually put up these elevated platforms for them. Most of these birds are on nests that contain 1 to 3 eggs. The eggs are blue. The birds are gorgeous.

I have more pictures to share. I just wish I could figure out how to put more than 5 pictures up at a time.

'Til next time!!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Claustrophobia

Ever have a bad case of claustrophobia? If not, and you'd like one, take a trip through the USS Drum, a submarine next to the USS Alabama in Mobile. You have to be small, thin, and crazy to have worked on one of these things. And I had the joy of knowing that I was above water. I can't imagine what it would have been like while in the middle of the ocean, under water, with no way out. Somehow I don't think men volunteered for sub duty. In any event, it was a real eye opener and quite the learning experience. I'm glad we went both to the Alabama and the Drum.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Mobile, Alabama

Sorry, these aren't in order. I keep forgetting that they come in backwards.

Coming out of the tunnel that goes under downtown Mobile.

Going into the tunnel. I couldn't get any pictures in the tunnel. The flash kept reflecting off the windshield.

These were taken from the bridge over the bay while heading into Mobile.

Mobile is a really neat city. It is definitely worth another trip.

Next up, the USS Alabama and USS Drum