Saturday, August 6, 2011

Day Forty-Three: Kid in a Candy Store

We weren't in a big rush this morning because we were headed out towards Wine Country. Well, we should've dragged out our packing up even more, because we got out to Napa around 9. Apparently, it was too early for others for wine tasting! But the land around was really pretty to look at, so it wasn't a total loss. The acres and acres of vineyards go on for ever! We drove around downtown Napa for a while. Cute town. Then we headed out to Fairfield, home of the Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Company. How cool! After watching the Food Network and "Unwrapped," we knew that we had to go on their company tour. And it is free, so it's even better! And they give out free samples along the way so it's still even better! We waited in the line for about 15 minutes for the next tour. We got our fun little hats that you needed to wear and were ready to go. The only thing is, you can't take pictures on the way through. (Don't want any secrets getting out!) They take you through the factory gallery where you can look down at each of the steps in the jelly bean-making process. And the tour guides give you company history along the way. Did you know that they also make the Sunkist gummy candies, and candy corn? I didn't know that! Just a fun tidbit for you. And they make some pretty great art pieces out of jelly beans. From Ronald Reagan (who was from Fairfield and had the jelly beans brought to the White House) to Prince William and Kate, and the Statue of Liberty to a Bald Eagle. It takes over 10,000 jelly beans to make one picture! After watching them make the beans in each step, they gave out samples of each step. At the very end of the tour, they give out a free bag! Totally worth it! We then spent some time looking around their gift shop. So many choices of flavors to look through. So we got some of everything! It will make a great dinner tonight!
We then drove out to our camp. I definitely like the cooler weather. We aren't even near the heat and it's already 90 here! Much different from the 70s in San Francisco. Of course we are in tank tops and shorts, and they are all wearing long pants or long sleeves. We got a bunch of stares... I don't know why! On the way out here, there was all kinds of agriculture going on. For miles, that was all there was on the side of the road. A lot of them had signs saying "Agri-Land." Not sure what it is, but they grow all kinds of crops. There was one point where we went for about 5 miles without seeing another car (and about 35 miles without a speed limit... I kind of guessed...) We drove by the trucks full of vegetables- saw tomatoes, cucumbers, and garlic. It is awesome seeing where a lot of the food we eat actually comes from.
There isn't much to do out here, it's kind of in the middle of nowhere, so we decided to drive down to Fresno to go to Target. The shopping area is lined with palm trees! And the Target was right next to a Walmart- literally in the same parking lot. I thought Connecticut was bad when they are down the street from each other. We got a cube of wine (not a box, a tiny little cube that they should sell in CT. Much classier, and easier to hold, than a box) and a card game to play tonight to pass the time. That's what we'll be doing when we sign off here. Till tomorrow!

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