Avery Island, LA

After exiting New Iberia we're traveling back to US 90 when what do we see but a rather large bottle of Tabasco sauce with an arrow pointing left. I over shoot but quickly pull into a business parking lot to turn around. We head down the lane just knowing what lies just six miles ahead. We arrive at a fishing pier, with families fishing along side. There is a blinking red light before the bridge onto Avery island and a stop sign by a toll booth across the bridge. We pull up and are told it is one dollar to enter the island, per car load, but once inside the factory tour and grounds, not the posted one, are free to explore. We agree to the toll and a long plank with a wooden clothespin nailed to it appears at the window with a pass to the island, which we replace with a dollar. The pass is to remain on your dash during your time on the island.Posted signs is good and directs us to the factory, gift shop and parking area. Roads are covered with a white dust and all the cars turn grayish as the travel on the island with a Grey white cloud behind them. Tours are every 20 minutes or so and we just missed the one before us but there is a continuous playing video of Tabasco in film and TV playing to entertain us while we wait. Some things I learned were the Little Rascals did a bit where one of the kids shooed the dog away and begged for food under the table and was fed sausage until one was laced with Tabasco that flamed his taste buds. Another with Charlie Chaplin and so on.The young lady arrived to give us and a family of Dad, Mom, two sons and a daughter joined us. Dad had a Saints hat on but the game had not started yet, a good thing because the Saints quarter back, Drew Brees did not have a Hall of Fame performance that day. We were a good group, asking a lot of questions, which extended the tour to over a half and hour. We saw the processing line, which can bottle 700,000 two ounce bottles per day and is shipped to just under 200 countries around the world. I had seen an hour show on History, Discovery, or maybe the Travel channel where the whole process is explained. Just briefly, not all the peppers are ground on the island, they use empty whiskey oak barrels to cure the mixture with a coating of salt on the barrel top, the salt is mined from Avery island and is for sale at the gift shop @ $6.95 container.At the end of the tour each person is given a sample bottle of red and green Tabasco sauce. More can be purchased at the gift shop. Den did buy some Tabasco BBQ sauce and I bought a Red Tabasco solo cup to fill up.We stopped at the snack truck next to the gift shop, I had sausage on a stick, mm mm good. Den had red beans and rice. We left quite please with ourselves for the side trip we had just taken and it was off to Biloxi, MS along US 90.