Did You Ride Today? Where To and How Far?

[Cajunrider]

Originally Posted by ponch

Was the tabasco factory worth the tour?

The tour is nice. Start off by looking at some relics from when the the business first started in the 1800's. You then move on to a little theater where you see a 10 minute video on the history of the Tobasco business including the pepper planting, picking, processing, and 3 year aging in oak barrels covered with salt from the mine. We then toured the bottling plant. It was my second trip. We will go back in the spring when the egrets are hatching their young. It's only a little over an hour from my home. The 5 salt dome islands are fascinating places. You can visit Jefferson, Avery, and Weeks Islands by driving onto the islands. Cote Blanche (French for White Coast) and Belle Isle are not accesible to the public. Both are teaming with wild game including hogs, Louisiana Black Bear, deer, etc. Belle Isle is the site of two mining disasters in the 1968 where 21 salt miners died in an underground fire and again in the mid 70's when an outburst of sand and methane resulted in an underground explosion killing 5 more miners. The mine was intentionally flooded and abandoned a couple of years later. It is now private land with a hunting club that only allows bow hunting of deer. Avery, Cote Blanche, and Weeks Islands are still producing salt. If ever you are down here, the islands are well worth visiting. Jefferson Island has the old servant quarters which were converted to Bed and Breakfast cottages. We plan on spending a couple of nights early in the upcoming spring.