Thursday June 12, 2014

JELLY BELLY FACTORY

I was surprised that the free breakfast at Best Western was very good this morning.  I was also surprised to see such light freeway traffic!  It was about 180 miles to Fairfield.  Our destination this morning was the Jelly Belly Factory.  We arrived without fanfare; apparently new management at the Welcome Center was never informed of my arrival.  No matter.  I often enjoy the "incognito" gig, where they pretend they don't know me.

We eased into the next tour group for a look at the birth of Jelly Beans. The old guy with the thinning Mohawk haircut and the oversized earrings reminded me of Portland.  We were surprised to learn they make all kinds of candy!  Their recipe for Candy Corn has been the same as when it was brought from the old country.

After the tour we loaded up on Belly Flops and a few souvenirs.  Once we reached the car, we set our GPS for the nearest Chic Fil A.  It wasn't long 'til we were consuming vast quantities of chicken nuggets and Peach Shakes!

Next stop.....Yosemite Pines Resort.  We found a great campsite and set up the big cabin tent, ran an extension cord over to the tent and aired up the air mattresses.  I lit a charcoal fire in the fire ring and started dinner.  Tonight we are having Salisbury Steak foil dinners and corn on the cob.  The steak was surrounded with onions, potatoes and carrots, topped with country gravy and slow cooked on top of the charcoal, along with unshucked sweet corn on the cob.  Mmmmmmm, good!

It was pretty quiet around our campsite until a troop of Boy Scouts showed up.  They are camping a stone's throw away.  It reminded me of all those years I took my Scouts out camping.  Ha Ha!  PAY BACK!!!  They quieted down about bedtime, so it wasn't bad.

It's 10:00 PM.....Lights out!