Day 120

October 6, 2017                                                                                                            Day 120

My excitement for today literally cannot be explained!  Today I will be going to the Jelly Belly Factory!!  Oh how I love jelly beans and I have to admit this is probably the most excited I have been over anything thus far on my trip.  I woke up to no alarm around 07:00; however, I was completely nestled within my blankets and did not really want to get out from under them and face the cold.  But I did eventually crawl out and what do you know I survived.   I threw on my jacket and began boiling some water for my coffee and oatmeal.  While I waited for both of those to steep I prepped a bag of clothes for walking over to the showers.  Once both items were ready I sat in my camper where I sipped on the coffee and ate the oatmeal while calling and leaving a voicemail for my older brother and my parents for I just wanted to say good morning to someone.

With the oatmeal gone I walked over to the shower area though I did not shower since I had taken one yesterday and my hair was still looking good.  Instead I put on some different clothes and applied some makeup which I do not do so often anymore.  Back at my camper, I unhitched and took off in the direction of Fairfield where the Jelly Belly Factory was.  As I pulled onto 1 Jelly Belly Lane the colors were popping out at me and I couldn’t hold back my smile even if I tried.  I honestly don’t know when I was this excited about something!  I tried calling my mom one last time and got threw so I could tell her good morning.  Then the gates parted ways and I was in Heaven!

Colors flooded my vision and the sweet smell of fudge, chocolate and other candies overwhelmed me.  I went to the information desk to inquire about the free tours and was told that they would start in seven minutes.  So I tested some jelly bean samples and went and stood in line…with all the children.  I was the only adult that was not accompanied by kids and I put on that white paper Jelly Belly hat and wore it proudly!  The tour was self-guided and quite interesting I especially found the short informational videos to be intriguing.  It was fascinating to finally see how the candy I love is created and to also learn the history of the jelly bean.  Apparently, Ronald Reagan enjoyed jelly beans so much that he had his own candy dish for them.  Hmm…maybe I should invest in my own jelly bean dish.  The factory surprisingly did not have a lot of people working on the floor that I could see and it was kept very clean.  I enjoyed seeing the hundreds of containers filled with millions of colorful jelly beans and imagined how fun it would be to roll around in all those beans.  The part I liked the most was where they had a conveyor belt and the workers walked down it dumping boxes of every flavor of jelly bean on the belt.  Once they had all the flavors accounted for they started up the conveyor belt and away the candies went into a big mixer and came out all mixed up to go into the boxes that I buy.  There was also amazing jelly bean art all over which was beautifully done but I thought kind of a waste of a perfectly edible jelly bean.

After the tour, I saw a sign about a wine tasting at 11:00 which intrigued me for I was at a Jelly Bean factory.  It cost $22.00 for six tastings that were paired with chocolates and at the end you got a wine glass with the logo on it.  So as I pondered that tidbit of information I bought a huge mudslide thing that was a mound of chocolate poured into a cupcake holder.  I took my enormous mound of chocolate heaven into the café area and sat down and proceeded to make a huge mess out of the entire thing.  I only ate about half of it before I told myself to stop for I was going to do the wine tasting and wanted to make sure I had room in my stomach for all this goodness.  At 11:01, and not a minute later, I climbed the stairs to the second level where the wine tasting was being held.  The woman who assisted me was very kind and brought my wine and chocolates to me and explained the process.  Though I was alone I found it to be relaxing and I didn’t mind that I had no one to share this experience with.  The wines themselves were not terrible nor were they the best I have had; however, the chocolates on the other hand were delicious with my three favorites being the truffle, the dark chocolate apricot and the buttered popcorn fudge.  While I was sitting there two other groups had walked in and as I peered over at them I noticed they had already downed their wine and chocolates.  Was I doing it all wrong and going too slow?  I didn’t think so for I thought the whole experience was to be enjoyed and savored.

With all my wine and chocolates gone all I could think about was eating a salad or something healthy to counteract all the sugar that has been pumped into me.  Before walking out of the factory I had to buy a bag of jelly beans of course!  I was looking at gifts for family members but nothing caught my eye though they did have jelly bean scented pillows and all I could think is who in their right mind would want that and waste the money on it.  They also had some crazy jelly bean flavors like “dead fish” and “stale socks” which I would love to know how anyone knows what either of those taste like.

After some research on places to eat I decided to go to a small café called Mimi’s.  When I arrived I was seated at a small booth that was just the perfect size for me and I instantly liked the atmosphere of the place.  I have come to realize that I actually enjoy going out to eat by myself and find that I tend to enjoy the food a bit more.  When the waiter arrived I ordered a mango mimosa, the roasted chicken croquet monsieur (pulled roasted chicken with caramelized onions on grilled sourdough bread with Mornay sauce and swiss) and the bacon and bleu cheese salad (baby greens, bleu cheese, dried cranberries, walnuts, hickory-smoked bacon, tomatoes, strawberries and balsamic dressing).  It was purely divine!  I could only eat half my sandwich so I took the rest to go and walked to my vehicle completely stuffed.  I contemplated whether to actually hit up a winery for another wine tasting or to just call it a day.  Due to a horrific conversation I had been having with someone while I ate I decided today was all about spoiling myself and not giving a flying fuck. J

So I drove to the Suisun valley wine co-op where I was the only one there and stood talking to the woman there while trying out wines.  In the end, I bought a bottle made from grapes that came from vines that were planted in 1912.  Back at the RV Park I spent the rest of the evening in my camper relaxing and watching some TV shows.  I have to say that this date that I took myself on today was hands down the best date I have ever been on which I don’t know what that really says about my dating experience.    All I know is that I need to treat myself like this more often for I think I deserve it after everything I have been put thru in the last few years.

This is going to be my next ride :)

So Delicious!

Pure happiness!