San Francisco, CA 2015 - Days 1 & 2

When life becomes too hectic, when schedules and school and work become overwhelming, Chad and I like to ditch reality for a while. Thanks to an accommodating family willing to make sure our kids stay alive in our absence, we were able to disappear in order to reconnect and relax. On Thursday afternoon, Chad came home from work early, we put an air mattress in the back of our van and headed south.

Weed Rest Area makes a fantastic hotel

Neither of us knew where we were headed, we just drove. Eight hours and one Taco Bell-stop later, we were pulling into a rest area in Weed, California. Midnight was approaching and we were tired so we put up our makeshift curtains, climbed in the back seat, and slept. The privacy curtains were nice because if there were any other travelers like me at the rest area, they'd be peeping in our windows watching us sleep. For instance, when I got up to use the restroom, I spent 20 seconds staring at a guy who was sound asleep in his car. I realized what I must look like, standing there motionless next to his Subaru, looking down at him while he slept. I admit there’s a chance my curiosity may have been perceived as “creepy” to others, but I assure you...okay, it was creepy. Hence the privacy curtains in our van.

We woke up five hours later, as the sun rose behind Mt. Shasta (don’t underestimate the beauty of a sunrise from a rest area on I-5). Chad found a restaurant an hour south in Redding called Country Waffles that had great reviews on Yelp. Country Waffles was filled with fake flowers, mauve décor, and lattice work. Our waitress called me “Hon,” and “Sweetie,” when she spoke to me. When one older man came in, his waitress greeted him by name and asked if he wanted his usual and when he left, she kissed him on the cheek as he said, “See ya later, kid.” I wanted to live there.

During breakfast, we decided to end up in San Francisco. We lingered over our coffee though, because sometimes first-rate hospitality does that to a person. We drove for the next few hours and, on a particularly long stretch of farm-lined highway, we put on a Journey CD, rolled down all the windows and stuck out our arms. We let the wind tangle our hair (well, one of us did) and the sun bake our skin as we sped along, and it felt magical.

Way sooner than we wanted, buildings appeared, traffic slowed us down, and we lost that feeling of freedom. As we entered Fairfield, I discovered that the Jelly Belly Factory (on Jelly Bean Lane—cute!) and Anheuser-Busch Brewery were just 5 minutes away, so we made a quick stop that actually wasn't that quick.  

The Jelly Belly factory tour was free and what do we all know about free stuff? People come out in droves to get it. And since we were at a candy factory, there were children everywhere. Which usually would be awesome. However, whether these kids were hopped-up on jelly beans, or just hadn’t yet learned how to function in public places, it’s hard to say. I kept waiting for one of them to get sucked up into a tube like Augustus Gloop. 

Between the hyper, yelling kids and the factory noise (thousands of jelly beans dropping onto conveyor belts sounds like amplified rain) hearing the tour guide proved difficult. Here’s what I think he said about how jelly beans are made: “First they add sugar. Then corn syrup. Then water. Then a jelly bean comes out. Then it costs $7 a pound. Now exit through the gift shop.” Like I said, it was hard to hear. We stood on platforms above the factory floor, looking down on the employees through windows, and the process was quite interesting. Remember how Mr. Rogers taught the world about factory work by showing us videos on Picture Picture? I know you remember learning how crayons were made. And I know that as you sat in front of your TV, eating your Smurf Berry Crunch, your life was changed forever. So was mine. This tour, while cool, didn't hold a candle to Picture Picture.

The walls were covered in jelly bean-artwork

The factory provided these glorious (and required) hats for the tour.

(If you want to know how jelly beans are really made, you can click here to watch a quick video.)

We bought small bags of beans for our kids: Watermelon for Ali, Blueberry for Jackson, Tutti-Frutti for Ashley. I nearly caved to the temptation to buy matching Jelly Belly shirts, hats, backpacks, and fingerless gloves for Chad and myself, but I resisted. Instead, I bought us matching satin jackets with an enormous jelly bean embroidered on the back and our names stitched on the front.

Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hassenpfeffer Incorporated!

Next, we headed over to tour The Anheuser-Busch Brewery. While waiting for the tour to begin, we hung out in the Tasting Room and had some beer and pretzels. We pretended we were Norm and Cliff Clavin from Cheers. Inside the plant, I expected a scene similar to the intro to Laverne and Shirley, where Laverne puts her glove on a beer bottle and then waves goodbye as it moves along the conveyor belt. But this was no Shotz Brewery. Everything was automated and there were hardly any humans in sight. I believe they said they fill 2,000 cans per minute. I may have made up that number though because of the Land Shark I drank and the sample of Bud Light they gave me. Chad was so impressed by the safety culture of the brewery that I’m not sure he actually paid attention to the tour. He was making notes and asking questions about their OSHA recordable injuries (they have zero for the year) so he can implement ideas at the Seattle shipyard when he gets back. I guess he hadn’t fully disappeared from reality.

Waiting for the tour in the Tasting Room

Beechwood aging takes 21 days in these tanks. 

If you drank 12 ounces of beer every hour 24 hours a day, 

it would take you 68 years to drink the beer inside one of these tanks. 

There are 120 tanks in this brewery.

After all the factory fun, we realized we needed to shower, so we found a hotel for the night in Richmond. After checking in, we ordered Thai food and watched TV while we used our bed for a dinner table. I’m pretty sure we were out by 8. We slept deeply while visions of jelly beans danced in our heads.

Fun Fact To Make You The Life Of The Party #1: Ronald Reagan loved Jelly Belly jelly beans and the company supplied over 3 tons of them for his presidential inauguration in 1981.

“You can tell a lot about a fella’s character by whether he picks out all of one color or just grabs a handful.” 

                             –Ronald Reagan

- Rachel