One of the last things I had planned to do while my family was in the area was to visit Napa Valley with them.  I’m not much of a wine drinker, although I do like a nice white wine sometimes in front of a fire, so I’m not very knowledgeable on the subject.  But of course Napa Valley has a world wide reputation for outstanding wines, so it could only be an interesting experience to go there.  Right?  Well… maybe it was my ignorance that led me to this opinion, but I actually like visiting wineries in South Australia a lot better.  The scenery is comparable, but they’re much more welcoming and down to earth in SA.  Another issue I had with wine tasting in Napa was the practice of paying for tastings, generally about $30 – $50, which is not even credited toward purchases — this may have been a characteristic only the wineries we visited, I don’t know how widespread the practice is, but it certainly limited my tasting!

But, to look at the bright side, vineyards are almost always pretty…

Wineries and tasting rooms are almost always pleasant places to spend an afternoon…

And it was the first day of Autumn, so the decorations were pretty and the weather was mild and sunny.

So I tasted some wine, I didn’t buy any, and although it wasn’t a bad day, it was nothing special for me.  And I got a little tired of the pretension and the valet parking.  But that’s just me.  Almost everyone I know has the opposite opinion, so I’m sure that if I knew more about wine I’d approve!

I picked up a brochure at a winery that listed events in the local area, and there was one that definitely caught my attention.  It was Candypalooza at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA!!  That sounded pretty unmissable to me, so I was off early the next morning to check it out.  And starting with the address, 1 Jelly Belly Lane, it didn’t disappoint!

First of all, there was a tasting bar so you could find the flavors you like!  (And it didn’t cost $50 to try them, it was free!)

I took the self guided tour of the factory, though unfortunately the production line was shut down for the weekend.  But one of the first things I saw was that people make “art” out of jelly beans.  I don’t know why, really.  Why not, I suppose?  This is just two, but there were many more on display there.

The tour was an interpreted walk around an elevated walkway that circled the factory floor.  There were television screens in places to explain the process, and the absolute nicest staff ever were there to answer questions.  I really liked the scent games they had along the walkway, which asked a question about flavors, and then you could smell the flavor at the white screen when you pushed the red button.  Very cool.

I learned a lot that I didn’t know about the operation of a jelly beanery, in particular that it takes between 7 to 21 days to make each bean!  I particularly liked the finishing section, where the jelly beans are tumbled very much like polishing stones.

And apparently they have to rest for a while afterwards, which is what these are doing.  Look at all the gazillions of sleeping beans!  Awwww.

Out in the gift shop, I discovered that they sell defective, but still quite edible, beans at a discounted price — they’re called Belly Flops.  No kidding.  And also that they’ve been experimenting with new flavors all the time, including beer, champagne, and cocktail flavors for the adult fans!  I tried these, and they taste mostly sweet at first, but finish with the taste of a light pilsner!

I wasn’t so convinced about the direction that they’re taking with some of the other new flavors though.  No doubt these are meant to attract Harry Potter fans, but I can’t see that they’d have lasting appeal.  I tried the ‘grass clippings’ flavor, and unfortunately it did indeed taste like grass.  So I was not at all inspired to try the rest!

But the whole place was really delightful and fun, even the café with it’s bean shaped pizzas, jelly bean lights, and retro 50s music playing.

Outside, they had plenty of carnival rides for Candypalooza.

As well as a rather random and unrelated flock of Camaros that had no explanation.

But look at this cute little cow in the putting zoo!  Little blue fairy wings!!  Eeep!  The whole place was just really overwhelmingly adorable!

So I did a bit of shopping. Ok, I did a lot of shopping.  Oh well, I have a long trip still ahead of me!!