Louisiana-Part II

Although we were too late for the actual Mardi Gras celebration, we learned a lot about it by touring "Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World". This company is where 80% of all the Mardi Gras floats are made and stored. We always thought there was one big parade, but we were told that last year there were actually 54 parades, each hosted and paid for by a "krewe" which is a social club. The krewe members pay for everything, including the beads and trinkets they throw from the floats. The larger and more famous of the clubs have their parades on the 3 days just before Fat Tuesday. Each krewe decides on their theme for the next year and the floats revolve around the theme. We were able to tour the factory and see the artists at work, as well as actual floats. Since the krewe members can be on the floats for 8-10 hours, an outhouse is usually hidden among the decorations!!!!!! Hopefully, we'll be there for the actual celebration someday.

Many plantations were built along the Mississippi in southern Louisiana, where there was fertile farmland for sugar cane. We were able to visit 2 of the most famous plantations that have been restored, Oak Alley and Laura. Oak Alley was spectacular and looked like it was from a scene in "Gone With the Wind". There were 28 huge Live Oak trees that were at least 300 years old providing a canopy to the front door of the mansion. We were able to tour the mansion and the gardens and had lunch at the bed and breakfast on the grounds. Laura, was a Creole plantation. Creole means the first generation born in this country. Laura was the 4th generation of a family (usually the women) that ran this plantation. She wrote her memoirs that verified the history of her ancestors. On the grounds of Laura, there were actual slave cabins, which had been occupied well into the 20th century by migrant workers.

Our last stop in Louisiana was a town called New Iberia. This town was settled by the Spanish from the Iberian peninsula. The main town is on the Bayou Teche. We finally learned a bayou is a slow moving body of water, usually with tributaries, that have marshlands. In New Iberia is Avery Island, which is the home of the Tabasco pepper sauce factory. The pepper sauce was invented by Edmund McIlhenny 150 years ago on the island, and most of the peppers are still grown there and the Tabasco products produced there, under the supervision of Edmund's direct decendants. After the factory tour, we went to the Tabasco country store. You would be surprised how many different items have "Tabasco" written on them! Besides Tabasco, the other notable feature of Avery Island is the Jungle Gardens and Bird City. Edmund's son, E.A., was a naturalist and developed the 200 acre grounds. There are 4 miles of drivable roads along a bayou where we were able to observe flowers, greenery, and wildlife, including alligators. It was a beautiful area. In the late 19th century, E.A., was instrumental in saving the Snowy Egrets from extinction. 20,000 Snowy Egrets nest on specially built platforms each year.