St. Bernard State Park, New Orleans, LA
Palmetto Island State Park is a pretty wild place, wild with nature that is. Nutria were scurrying all over, the insects and frogs were roaring, and there were supposedly bears and alligators within the park. Since we pulled in at dark, Ned and I couldn't wait to go for an early morning bike ride and see it first hand. I just loved the ride through the swamp in the early morning light.
Once the troops were rallied, we headed for Avery Island where Tabasco Sauce is made. We took the self-guided tour through the facility. Ned and I were last here about 7 years ago. They've upgraded the tour tremendously since then. It goes without saying that we had a great time viewing the greenhouse, warehouse, blending and bottling facilities. The best part was visiting the country store afterwards and tasting everything Tabasco from ice cream to soda, and every kind of sauce you can imagine.
Ned is a funny guy.
Except when he wants to get another barrel for chocolate aging and carry it across the U.S. Nooooooooo! - once was enough!
Avery Island also has a Jungle Garden Tour. Ned McIlhenny wanted future generations to enjoy and study the wonders of nature while observing plants and flowers from around the world. The grounds are dotted with massive live oak trees with Spanish Moss hanging from them and there are several gardens, ponds, a bird sanctuary and a Buddha shrine. We spent most of the afternoon exploring them and enjoyed spotting the occasional gator and unique birds.
The Buddha shrine was built by Emperor Hui-Tsung of China in 1101. Centuries later, the temple was looted by a rebel general who took the statue as part of the loot and sent it to NY to be sold. The statue was given to D.A. McIlhenny as a gift by two friend. My two cents: bad karma dude, give it back.
On our way to New Orleans, we made a quick stop in Morgan City to show Gary & Linda the riverwall that prevents Morgan City from flooding everytime the Atchafalaya River floods. For the Army Corp of Engineers if it's choice between Morgan City getting flooded or New Orleans, Morgan City loses.
Seeing the different high river marks on the old seawall lead me to believe that Morgan City lives on the edge.
After this action packed day we headed straight for New Orleans. Linda had her heart set on dancing at a certain club on Frenchman's Street. Perfect. I was looking forward to exploring that neighborhood.
It was so much fun walking Frenchmen's Street. We took in a Friday night art walk and the music was just pouring out of the clubs. By 9 pm there were jazz players on the street corners and dancing in the streets. Unfortunately, we had to check into our campground before they locked up the gates so off we went to St. Bernard State Park. Great campground just 25 minutes away.
Whew, what a day. We better rest up cuz it's Memorial Weekend in NOLA and we got a lot of partying to do!
Posted with Blogsy
