Category Archives: 15-Lake Charles LA

We watched a woman coax a deer close enough to take food from her hand

When we got back to the Sam Houston Jones State Park today where we are staying, we stopped on the road as we saw a couple of deer right next to the road.  We were going to take a picture or two, but then we saw a couple walking toward the deer with a bag of bread.  So, we backed up the road a little bit to watch.

The two deer saw the couple and one started to leave, but the other turned toward them and actually starting walking toward them.  The woman got a piece of bread out of the bag and tossed it towards the deer, and with a few pieces and some encouragement she got the deer to take food from her hand!  It was very cool to watch!

Avery Island – where they make Tabasco Sauce

We visited Avery Island today to see the only factory that makes Tabasco brand pepper sauce and see the natural beauty of the island natural preserve.

It’s called an island because there are bayous all around it.  It’s really a salt dome in the middle of a very flat swamp area.

Just before the Civil War Ned McIlenny, a lawyer from New Orleans, married one of the Avery daughters and moved with her to the family plantation.  They were forced out during the Civil War but returned afterward.  Someone travelling through the area gave them some pepper seeds they had obtained in Mexico and these soon turned into fiery pepper plants.  The McIlennys experimented with a pepper sauce and developed the recipe that is still used today.

Between this beginning and today, the McIlenny family has run the business and have also been interested in conserving the wild beauty of the area.  They created a snowy egret preserve and planted and maintain a beautiful park area.  Here are some pictures we took today:

Lake Charles, LA – and the Sam Houston Jones State Park

We’re now at the Sam Houston Jones State Park in western LA.  We’re doing a bit of backtracking by heading west before we head to Florida for the rest of the year because Jeff needs to get his Texas drivers license.  Our efforts to get Texas drivers licenses has been long and would be funny if it weren’t so alarming!  I had to go into the Drivers License Office 4 separate times when we were in Livingston before I had all the paperwork in order to get my license.  They couldn’t tell me all at once what I needed – each time I went in they gave me one more item I had to have.  Geez!!

Jeff couldn’t get his as he didn’t have his ORIGINAL birth certificate.  It was in our safe deposit box back in San Diego.  So we left Texas without his, and since I was planning a quick trip back to San Diego the first week we were in Picayune, I stopped at the safe deposit box and picked his birth certificate up.  We made sure he had ALL the paperwork they were going to need and Jeff made the 9 hour round trip from Picayune MS back to Texas one day to get his license.  Wouldn’t you know…the day he chose to do that the computers were down state-wide and he couldn’t get his license processed.

SO…here we are back in west LA so we can do a little sight-seeing in this area and he can make a shorter trip into Texas to (finally) get his drivers license.

The Sam Houston Jones State Park near Lake Charles is very primitive, but beautiful.  It’s setting is in a swamp area, and our campsite backed up right to the water’s edge.  Picture below.  It’s very beautiful and has lots of trails, so we’ll do some hiking while we’re here (we’ll try to avoid any aligators!) and we’ll also see some of the west LA area including Avery Island where Tobasco sauce is made.  It’s also in a swamp and is a natural preserve area.