2 Best Sights in Side Trips from New Orleans, Louisiana

The country's oldest rice mill that's still in operation, dating from 1912, produces distinctive wild pecan rice. Tours are conducted on the hour between 10 am and 3 pm. The adjacent Konriko Company Store sells Cajun crafts and foods.

Tabasco was invented by Edmund McIlhenny in the mid-1800s, and the factory is still presided over by the McIlhenny family. Tabasco is sold all over the world, but it is aged, distilled, and bottled only here, on Avery Island (these days the peppers themselves are mostly grown in Central and South America). You can take a self-guided factory tour that lasts about an hour and a half and highlights the production process along with conservation efforts on the island. You can also grab a meal at the on-site Tabasco Restaurant 1868, which includes a Bloody Mary bar and a boatload of Cajun classics—all infused with your favorite varieties of Tabasco sauce, of course. The Jungle Gardens and Bird City are adjacent.