,,2013 Road Trip from Houston Visiting Avery Island and New Iberia, LA Bonus: RIP Van Winkle Gardens

Fun Weekend Getaway from Houston

Day 1: arrive and see the Tabasco tour Address: 32 Wisteria Rd, Avery Island, LA 70513

Day 2: went to Jungle Gardens on Avery Island to see hundreds of egrets, then around lunchtime went to Rip Van Winkle Gardens RVWG. RVWG address: 5505 Rip Van Winkle Rd, New Iberia, LA 70560

Day 3: Drove around New Iberia, saw the historic house Shadows on the Teche but didn't go in. Drove back to Houston

My husband is a lover of hot sauce. He suggested a trip to Avery Island where Tabasco is made. Hmmm I thought Avery Island? I’m not sure I’m going to love this. But it would just be a weekend trip, and I know he’s loving the hot sauce so sure, let’s check it out.

We left on a Friday and drove to the La Quinta, New Iberia. It was reasonably priced and comfortable. Michael’s only complaint was that at one point he could hear voices in an adjoining room.

We ate at the Applebee's across the street and then headed for the Tabasco factory. It costs $1.00 to get on to Avery island where the factory is. The tour was free. We were lucky because we did get to see the factory in operation on a Friday. Some Fridays they are not operating. It was interesting seeing production of a product we like to use. There is a short film before you go on the tour and they give you some tiny little bottles of Tabasco as free samples. Then we went to the gift shop which I thought was fun. I liked the jalapeno ice cream and the Tabasco Coke. There was also a food cart outside if you needed lunch.

Then we went to see bird island. It wasn’t the best time of day to photograph the birds because the sun was behind them. We decided to come back the next day. In the area between where you first enter the bird island area and before you get to where all the egrets are we saw a turtle and an alligator and a raccoon.

Saturday: Bird Island opened at 9am and we were at the gate when it opened. Lots of opportunities to photograph snowy egrets and white herons taking off and landing. There are hundreds of birds here. They have nests on wooden platforms out in the water. Also got a picture of some roseate spoonbills flying overhead.

By lunchtime we left and went to Rip Van Winkle Gardens not far away. I loved this place. They had so many peacocks! We went to the Café for lunch. We had a very nice view of the water and watched a peacock walking around the tables outside looking for a handout. Many of the trees here are so large.

Then we bought a ticket to tour just the grounds (as opposed to touring the house). Nice gardens. It was pleasant walking around the place. We got some nice pictures of peacocks.

Sunday: After breakfast we headed back to Texas. Stopped at Don’s Specialty meats in Scott, LA and got some seafood boudin to bring home. It was so good we wish we would have gotten more than we did. We had planned ahead and brought a cooler to put it in.

Before we reached Texas we stopped at Sam Jones State Park: http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/ishjones.aspx It was a nice little park with campsites and some small cabins.

I was surprised how pleasant our trip to New Iberia was. I had a great time taking pictures and trying all the Tabasco products in the gift shop.