Tabasco & Gators

 Gosh, can travel get any more fun? I wonder that sometimes -  when we have an especially good day, when things just all line up. Sometimes,  I think, I maybe chalk it up to good karma, for all the positive reactions we've had to the negative - or rather, trying - situations this trip. Or perhaps even to make up for the good deeds we have done inadvertently during the trip: holding open doors for otherwise unfriendly people, saving a lost sweater and making a little girl's day, running a forgotten water bottle to a scatter-brained couple leaving a giftshop without all of their purchases...However you see it, I see it as wonderful opportunities for us to enjoy the places we are in even more, getting to see things even better, and ultimately having a better appreciation for the world we are travelling and living in.

We woke up this morning to wonderful blue skies in the village of Parks, and decided it was a good day to burn some taste buds off. Heh - let me explain. About an hour away from us is Avery Island, home of the McIlhenny family. Now that may ring a bell for some of you, but for context, E.A. McIlhenny is the mastermind and creator behind Tabasco Sauce. He was a marketing genius, too, as that is what made Tabasco sauce into the worldwide recognizable brand it is today. But he was also an eccentric entrepreneur, collecting things from around the world, like Egyptian artifacts, cacti and palms, exotic plants and animals - which led, in part, to the creating of some magnificent gardens on Avery Island. Now, the place has become a sort of botanical garden-cum-nature preserve that can also be walked around and enjoyed.

First, though, we did the Tabasco factory tours, learning about the process from the right pepper selection and seed collection, to the fermentation of pepper mash in barrels with nothing but salt for 3 years. The barrel warehouse is something to see, full of barrels top in salt to seal out oxygen, pepper juice leaking just a little bit through the wood, stacks collecting cobwebs until they are ready to be tasted and transformed. The fermented mash is then tasted and blended with vinegar, and then bottled and set to all of us who love a little more heat with our scrambled eggs or chili. In the bottling room, we watched hundreds of bottles zoom by on conveyor belts, getting caps and heat-shrink safety seals, then labels in languages indicating where they would be sent to. Interestingly, the batch we were watching so intently was the Chipotle Tabasco sauce, and those crates were being sent to Canada! I may just be watching the very bottles I will one day buy in a supermarket at home!

Like any good tour, this one ends in the giftshop, but that is also where the tasting happens. Now, contrary to wine tastings where we are always disappointed with the pour, we really only wanted to try one drop of the famous hot sauce. With 12 different varieties and increasing levels of heat, we didn't want to cause a scene by over-doing it - though from what the tasting guide tells us, many before us already have! We start with a drop a a time on the end of a spoon, starting with the mildest, sweetest sauces, the Sweet&Spicy Asian sauce, and the Raspberry Chipotle, which can also be drizzled on cheesecake or stirred into ice cream(more on that later!). We move through the green jalapeno, a little acidic, and the Buffalo, which is exactly as I expect a good Buffalo sauce to taste, minus all the delicious melted butter. We skip the Chipotle - our go-to at home - but enjoyed the thicker consistency of the Roasted Pepper, and think it might be a beneficial addition to our chili. After the Sriracha - an answer to the Asian variety we find in all the good noodle shops back home, we get into the spicier territory. First, classic Tabasco, followed by a Reserve variety, aged for 8 years in barrels, and blended with white wine vinegar. Then we try the Habanero, which has a surprisingly fruity taste before becoming all heat. This is where both Mario and I tap out - better to quit while we are ahead, and still able to enjoy the rest of the tasting! Besides, we only missed out on the last, and hotest, sauce - the Scorpion Sauce. Beside us, another couple has joined in on the tasting, but the husband basically slurps up a spoonful of the Scorpion sauce, exclaims, "Yup, here comes the heat!", to which his wife responds, "It's a creeper," and then they both walk away to make their purchases. Curious. 

At this point, the tasting guide realizes we need a break, and offers us both varieties of ice cream to cool our palate. They make the stuff in house to sell only on site, so it's a nice treat to get to try them. She hints that it's basically softened vanilla ice cream mixed with a 5-oz bottle of either the Raspberry Chipotle or the Sweet&Spicy, so easy to recreate at home. Make note of that, "y'all".  We finish with some of Tabasco's signature BBQ sauces, but at this point they really all taste the same, so we finish our tasting and go browse the gift shop for fun t-shirts. 

Next, we head further onto Avery Island to enjoy some of those Jungle Gardens created by E.A.McIlhenny himself. Glades filled with giant Live Oaks, branches reaching all the way down to the ground, begging to be climbed on(and you can bet that Mario did!). Lagoons filled with aquatics plants, turtles and the occasional alligator sunning on the bank, while snowy Egrets check the shoreline for tadpole snacks. There's a Japanese-influenced garden, with stone path leading to a Buddha, overlooking a pond, and a bright red torii gate standing tall in the distance. We pass next to a Wisteria arch, as well as a Camellia garden, but both were looking a little sparse, this being winter and all. With the sun and 24 degree temperatures, we tend to forget it is still only the second week of January, and even here, plants are in their dormancy period. 

We could have easily spent all day in the Jungle Gardens on Avery Island, but sadly have to cut things short, as we have more fun planned. We drive to Lake Martin, not far from our campsite for the night, and meet up with our swamp boat guide, Bret, for a tour of the  swamplands. And lucky us, this still being winter, not too many people want to go boating in the cold, so we end up having the tour all to ourselves! 

Bret is an excellent guide. Within the first 5 minutes, we spot our first gator, we get stuck on a submerged stump, Bret jumps in to free the boat, and we get on our way. Adventure! Good thing the gators aren't hungry! Bret explains that they will only eat as much as they can digest at one time anyways, so the worse he might lose is a leg. Funny guy. He tells us about the cyprus trees, and how they don't grow in water, but were there before the water was flooded in, and are now effectively in stasis. They won't die because they can tolerate the water, but they won't grow more, either. He points out the cormorants and anhingas - an unevolved version, where their bones are still solid, causing them to fly funny, and move a little like a snake in the water. We spot nest in the trees above, belonging to bald eagles and osprey, and more gators lying on logs, of course. I point out a flock of what looks like ducks in the distance, and Bret asks if I can identify what type they are. I try, to which he responds, "Good guess, but nope - they're WOOD." Turns out, controlled hunting is allowed on the lake, and so there are groups of wooden decoy ducks installed here and there, grouped around well-camouflaged hunting hides. I feel silly.

We head over the opposite side of the lake to see some of the oldest cypress trees, and are treated to a wonderful show: a flock of over a hundred ibises appeared from the treeline past the lake, coming to rest in the tops of the cypress trees above our heads, squawking at each other to make room. What a show. Even Bret stopping what he was doing, put the boat in park and pulled out his camera. Mario remarked that it must be a good show when even the guide stops to take pictures! It was the highlight of the trip and we could stop talking about it until we returned to the parking lot. We thanked Bret, and drive the campervan back to Parks for a relaxing afternoon of far niente - doing nothing - and maybe catching up on a few chores that we have been neglecting. 

One thing we did do, we tasted some of those crawfish that everyone says you have to try when in the area. BUT, it is not the season, and when we asked Bret for recommendations, he mentioned that any place serving boiled crawfish would be using the Chinese catch, which are not as good. So I had an idea. At the local store, I noticed some frozen packs of the crawfish tail meat, and sure enough, they were locally packed. I riffed a bit off the idea of the boil, where whole potatoes and corn cobs are thrown in with spices, and made a tomatoey-spicy chowder with corn and potatoes in it, then stirred in the tender seasoned crawfish meat right at the end. It was maybe not anything like what a crawfish boil is supposed to be, but it was delicious, and WAY less messy, too.

And still no one has come by for those camping fees...