We took a side trip to Avery Island, home of the Tabasco sauce factory and other attractions. I remember visiting it as a kid, driving around the pretty island, seeing the sites, and touring the factory. I remembered a warehouse full of oak mixing tanks 2o feet tall and stacks of oak casks aging the fermenting pepper mash, which, after 3 years, will be mixed with vinegar to form the sauce that is eventually bottled and sold throughout the world. To this day I remeber the aroma of fermenting peppers that hit you in the face as soon as we got out of the car at the factory.

Unfortunately, that version of Avery Island no  longer exists. There is no driving around the island any more. You are directed straight to a “country store” where all manner of Tabasco brand regalia is offered for sale. We took the tour of the new factory, built after my childhood visit sometime in the 1970s. Alas, you’re not allowed in the aging facility, but herded straight into a small auditorium for a 10-minute film hosted by TV’s Susan Roesgen. They do show all these things you can’t see in person in the film, but it’s not the same experience at all. Directly afterwards, you are herded past the bottling facility; sterile, idle, and uninteresting the day we toured.

Bright spots: I picked up some Tabasco products not readily available everywhere else. A bottle of Thai-style sweet chili sauce, some of their teriyaki sauce that has a lot of ginger as well as a pepper kick and a three-pound bag of the pepper pulp left over after they bottle the Tabasco sauce. It’s got that same pungent aroma I remembered from the factory as a kid, so there’s that.

On the way back to the camp, we passed through Delcambre were Nola spotted “Shawn’s Cajun Meats, Too,” and we turned around to do some shopping. I was hoping for some home-made andouille and/or tasso, but all they offered were seasoned fresh meats. We bought a stuffed brisket (slow-cooking in the oven as I write) and some items to throw on the grill. We spotted what looked like some fresh pork sausage, but it was labeled “Syrup Sausage.” A customer overheard us speculating about the contents. He said, a) It’s good stuff; and, b) it’s spicy pork sausage that has Steen’s Cane syrup added in.

We also purchased some bacon-wrapped stuffed jalapenos, bacon-wrapped stuffed boneless chicken thighs and pork-stuffed portobello mushrooms. Grilled, all these were tasty, spicy and worth a drive to Delcambre from NOLA even for no other reason.

Held this morning in the Quarter, the New Orleans event pays tribute to the famous Running of the Bulls (the Encierro) during the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain. Crowds of people there, dressed in white & wearing red sashes, dash through the town’s streets amongst fighting bulls who’ve been let loose from their corral. It’s a world-famous event, popularized through history and literature by the likes of Ernest Hemingway.

Of course, the New Orleans event is presented with a twist. There’s no bullfighting here (why?) and thus the city lacks a supply of fighting bulls. So to have fun and have an excuse for running through the French Quarter, the crowd opts to be chased by the participants of the city’s equivalent combat spectacle: Big Easy Rollergirls wielding plastic baseball bats.

It’s just the kind of event that’s perfect for the city, presenting another excuse to be drunk in public, a chance to lampoon a historically significant event while wearing a costume, and to have the luxury of being chased by fast women bearing weapons, laughing all the time. Holding it in the middle of summer, when all sane folk become completely inactive, is a stroke of marketing genius to inject some life and cash into the Quarter during the doldrums.

I think it’s a winner, and predict participation will grow exponentially next year and be expanded into an affair spread over several days; if not next year, in years soon to come.

But without the participation of real bovines, PETA will, alas, be uninvolved, sparing(?) the city of its Pamplona protest event, the Running of the Nudes. But knowing New Orleans, that’s by all means possible; I see Nude Running of the Bulls as a future night-time adjunct event, maybe.

Update: Check out Loki’s eyewitness account and many great pictures at Humid City.

So we basically played Mario Kart for the Wii all day. His grandparents bought him a telescope, and last night we went out to try to find the moon. The moon, alas, was not to rise until after midnight, so we looked at random stars.

The highlight of the trip was this giant frog painted on the I-10 overpass at Rayne, home of the Frog Festival, where we stopped for lunch on the way home.

I was going through some old pictures on my computer and found some parade prep pics I’d like to share. Parade goers know that no parade is complete without the Budweiser Clydesdales. The eight-horse teams pulling the big red beer wagon are an awesome sight for kids. The one-ton beasts with dinner plate-sized hooves loom over the crowd and definitely made an impression on me as a young parade goer.

I caught them as they prepared for a Slidell parade, the Krewe of Perseus. I was lucky enough to be introduced to the team: Scott, Bud, Smokey, Ace, Luke, Duke, Mick and Archie, along with their human handlers and canine mascot, Doc the dalmatian.

First step, get the horses out of their luxurious travel trailers. Believe me, these horses travel in style. I think there’s a guy who cleans up if they poop while the trailers are on the interstate.

Next, a little grooming.

Time to put the harness on. It’s a three-man job. The things weigh over 100 pounds.

After the horses get hitched together and to the wagon, Doc, the canine member of the team, takes his place next to the driver.

A driver’s-eye view of the team. From closest to the wagon to the front of the hitch: Scott and Bud; Smokey and Ace; Luke and Duke; Mick and Archie.

And my favorite shot, this one as the team arrives for the night parade of the Krewe of Olympia in Covington. Mick and Archie are in the lead.

That’s how the Budweiser Clydesdales prepare for a parade. What’s your story?

I ran across this headline on the Dead Pelican: “Mama bear, cubs pay surprise visit to Cottonport,” which linked to this article in the Alexandria Town Talk.

Apparently, Ursus americanus luteolus is making a comeback. Efforts by the Black Bear Conservation Committee (BBCC) seem to be paying off, as events like the Cottonport bear visit seem to be happening with greater frequency. The BBCC keeps track of these reports here.

Unfortunately, we just missed the Bayou Teche Black Bear Festival, which was held April 20 & 21, 2007, in Franklin. And yes, a new Black Bear Queen was crowned.

For better or worse, I’ve also noticed bears popping up in popular culture as an element of the sarcastic/smart-alecky school of comedy. Regular viewers of The Office should be on the lookout for the frequent displays of classic-TV-character-in-the-making Dwight Schrute’s encyclopedic knowledge of bears and bear attacks, as is found in this PSA. Comedy Central’s faux newsman Stephen Colbert makes frequent reference to bears (“godless killing machines”) mainly because he is respectfully (and hilariously) terrified of them.

He may have a point, though. Tips by the BBCC if one encounters a black bear include:

• Black bears are not normally aggressive, but like all wild animals, they will attack if provoked.
• Do not run, bears can reach 35 mph and can easily outrun a person. Running can also trigger the bear’s chase instinct.
• If attacked, fight back aggressively. Bears will be less likely to continue an attack if they experience enough resistance.

This last bit of advice runs counter to Dwight Schrute’s admonition that if attacked by a bear, “…simply lie still on the ground and cover your face and head with your hands. When the bear is finished batting you around and mauling you, contact the U.S. Forest Service.”