Budweiser and Jelly Belly Tours!

A couple of days after we arrived in California, we discovered that there was a Budweiser plant AND a Jelly Belly plant literally just down the road from base. Taylor loves beer and I love sweets so naturally this was an easy decision. Oh, and they were F-R-E-E so that made it even better!

We started the day at Budweiser. I think they run tours about every 30-45 minutes so we just showed up and hung out in a reception-like room with a bar. Then, the bartender announced that we would each get two samples of any beer we wanted! Beer and I aren't really friends, so I offered to DD for the guys while they drank not only their two beers, but mine as well. 

As everyone was finishing up their samples, we got a little Bud history. Just like I said when we visited the Coke museum, we were quite surprised at how much we don't know about yet another iconic brand! Our tour guide was very knowledgable and answered Taylor's best questions.

Our tour started by taking us through what used to be the bottling part of the plant. They only put out cans at this plant now! 

Then, we got to go into a room with giant tanks. I couldn't really hear the tour guide and I don't really know much about beer so I'm not sure what was going on in the tanks. Maybe fermentation? 

You know Taylor and I had to find a reason to look like goobers! We are wearing GIANT safety glasses. I didn't really mind them, but Taylor thought they were outrageous.

After we took pictures and pretended to drink out of the spouts on the sides of the tanks our tour was over. I think Taylor learned quite a bit and we got two free beers out of the deal so we counted it as a success! Plus, if we wanted to do a more in-depth tour later on, they offered those as well. Taylor already has it on his calendar!

My husband, pretending to pick a horse's nose. This is why I married him! 

After our tour at Budweiser, we drove just a couple of miles down the road to the Jelly Belly plant!

We got sweet hats and Taylor thought I looked especially cute so he took a picture. I was sad because photography wasn't allowed on the tour and that they weren't making any beans that day! Bummer.

Even without the bean making, we thought it was pretty great. They have videos and bits of trivia throughout the whole process that made it worth going. Plus, we got free samples of the jelly beans through the different stages of development. Since I can't show you pictures, you'll just have to trust me and make it part of your next trip to California!

Once our tour was over, we got a free sample and we got to go down to their store and try any of the flavors we wanted! 

Right before the tour, we posed with a larger version of this Jelly Bean, but they wanted to charge us something outrageous to buy it so we improvised and took one of our own. Boys sure are silly!

We were so excited to see the plant in action that we actually went back a couple of weeks later! Our tour guide the second time around wasn't as great. She actually forgot to play any videos and kept getting so confused about her talking points that she would just trail off and move onto the next station. I think that going while the plant was down actually helped us listen to our tour guide the first time around!

We enjoyed our experiences at both plants and I'm currently trying to figure out a way to get a floor tour at the Jelly Belly factory! (We saw people doing it, so I know it's possible!)

A new adventure!

So in my last post, we had just arrived in our new home!

And then we were promptly told that we would have to leave for the West Coast just 10 days later. I have to admit that I was pretty bummed. I know, I know, an extended stay in California sounds absolutely terrible. But I selfishly just wanted to settle down in a house that was all mine and Taylor's for the first time ever. We still will of course, just with an adventure thrown into the mix.

Our trip out here was thankfully uneventful. However, Taylor and I were separated on our first flight. I was sandwiched between a man who thought it was acceptable to take his shoes off the entire flight and a girl who pretended the boundaries of personal space were just a figment of the imagination. Taylor was luckily (!) in a row with a small child and her mother. The mom was super concerned with why her child couldn't listen to her dvd player without headphones as well as everyone else's business going on in the plane. On our second flight, we managed to snag two seats together, but traded off listening to someone loudly tell all of her life stories. Also, Taylor snorted laughed his way through a new book. It was an awesome experience and I just wish all of you could have been there to enjoy it too.

Once we finally got to Cal-i-forn-i-a, (Forgive me, I have been dying to say/write that since we got here.) we got a sweet rental car and headed towards our first hotel. When I say sweet rental car I am being completely sarcastic. We could hear every road noise, the built in lumbar support felt like we were trying to sit with basketballs balanced behind our backs, there was no cruise control (first world problem, I know), and sadly there were no possible combinations of seat adjustments that would allow me to be able to drive. I'm not going to name this car, just in case anyone who reads this owns one because I would feel awful for calling your car a POS to your face.

Since we had to drive back up to the airport the very next day to pick up our other New Jersey friend, we made the executive decision to make a rental trade. It wasn't a very hard decision to make, especially since during the 24 hours we had been driving the car, I had managed to let one of the doors go during a freak blast of wind and happened to put a pretty decent size scratch on our car and an even worse dent on someone else's luxury vehicle. Oopsies.

Our next car was a Chevy Cruze. I am naming this one because I l-o-v-e loved it. Sadly, we only had that one for a short time because there happened to be a massive recall for them over the weekend. We sadly said goodbye, but got a sweet upgrade to a full-size rental. We even got satellite radio which made me do a happy dance because I am a spoiled brat and almost lost my mind over the regular radio we had for a while.

Side note: the car rental industry has a skewed view of the differences in car sizes. It should be: child-sized, teen-sized, medium-sized, shaq-sized. 

Thankfully, we have had the same rental car for over two weeks now and I have never been so thankful to have a set of wheels in my life!

When we first arrived, we stayed in a hotel in a nearby town until we could move into the hotel on base. The view was a nice way to be welcomed to the state of California.

Even though we tried and tried to convince someone, ANYONE that we would be here for a few MONTHS and needed a room with a stove/oven, we were denied and given a room with a microwave instead. It has been definitely less than ideal, but we borrowed a crock pot and have been making do. 

We have since settled into our new routines of Taylor going to work and me occupying my time however I can. We have also gone on several magical adventures. But those are stories for another time!