Whaddya mean, Jelly Bean?

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This is gonna be a short one! Also, just a reminder, to contact me privately all you have to do is click the button at the bottom that says Contact MaryMPool OR Send Private Message. If you wanna just make a comment for everyone to see, click on Add Public Comment. I love to hear what you're up to even though I may not see you all the time...or even if I do see you all the time, I still like getting email and comments! After leaving Yosemite, we drove along many two lane roads going at a snail's pace...or at least it seemed that way. We had so much to fit in that time was definitely a concern. We drove through some very deserted and unique countryside and got to see a wind farm! But, the first place on our itinerary to visit was the Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Factory in Fairfield. This was awesome. We walked in and only had to wait for one other tour group of about 30 people to go before our group was allowed entrance. While we waited, we got to enjoy the sample bar--they'll let you try any of their varieties of jelly beans plus some of the other candies they make. We went on our tour and since it was in the food processing part of the plant, we had to wear little hats. Unfortunately, Amy's didn't quite fit her...or at least it didn't until we told her how to adjust it to make it a bit bigger. :-) We watched a video on the company's history, checked out some interesting Jelly Belly artwork, and were just generally in awe of the plethora of things that were written about/made of/made to look like Jelly Belly jelly beans. We went on the tour and were shown all the different stages through which a Jelly Belly jelly bean goes before it's packaged and sold to the public. The ones that don't meet the rigourous size and shape requirements are still sold at the factory shop as Belly Flops. I love that! We did a bit of souvenir shopping and then ended up eating at the little eatery they had there cos we weren't gonna have time to stop again if we were going to make it to our next destination. Amy was brave and ended up getting the Jelly Belly shaped hot dog for her lunch. Then it was back in the car for us! Lots more places to go and see!!!

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Photos

Cosmo and The Bean
Cosmo learned his lesson and promised he'd be better today so he got to tour the factory with us.

Ronald Reagan in beans
They will make anything out of Jelly Bellys!

Bathing in Beans
If I'd come up with Jelly Bellys and had the Jelly Belly fortune, I'd probably take a bath with them as well. ;-)

Getting ready to be polished
Do you think I could make jelly beans in a rock polisher from the 80s?

Christmas
This many Jelly Bellys would probably feed a small country for a few weeks--and this isn't all of them!!!!

At the end of the tour
After the tour ended, they gave us lots of samples...YUM!!! Too bad they weren't actually the size of our heads like in the picture behind us....

Amy with her hot dog
She hates the fact that I make her take silly photos.

Shopping in the kids section
Too bad this shirt was only available for kids...if not, Allyn so would have come home wearing this!

Comments

[Ruth]

big jelly beans!
I'd love to see you try and eat a jelly bean the size of your head!!! he he he!

[shel]

jealous!!!
Oh my gosh the kids are so jealous! The LOVE jelly beans. I love the jelly flops. That couldn't be cuter!! What great adventures you all have! Miss you!