Wednesday, Sept 21st - Today we had breakfast and checked out of the hotel. Got some gas for the rental car ($3.85/gallon). Then we were off to Paraduxx Winery. This is a sister winery to the Duckhorn Winery. They have two other wineries: Decoy & Migration. Notice the "duck" similarities in their names. This was a FREE tasting since we joined the wine club at Duckhorn. This tasting was also very unique. You sit outdoors and they bring the wine (and appetizers) to you. This was a very relaxing experience with some great wines. We did order a few bottles before we left and they should be delivered in the next few weeks.
The wine tasting consisted of 8 different types of wine (see the 16 glasses and all the wine descriptions on the outdoor coffee table). We sipped these slowly as we knew we would be driving to Fairfield in the early afternoon.
Off to Fairfield, CA for a tasting of another kind. Fairfield is home to the factory that makes Jelly Belly jelly beans. This was a 40 minute tour where you can see up to 150 different flavors of Jelly Belly jellbeans being made. Did you know that it takes more than a week to make a jelly bean? There is lots of curing time between each stage of the Jelly Belly process.
The top 3 favorite flavors are as follows: 1) Very Cherry; 2) Buttered Popcorn 3) Licorice
They have many flavors I wouldn't want to try. These are called BeanBoozled Jelly Bellys. Some examples are: Skunk Spray, Rotten Egg, Canned Dog Food, Moldy Cheese, Pencil Shavings, etc...
The smell in the factory is overwhelmingly sweet! I could smell the sweetness for hours after being in the factory.
Before the tour, we searched for a restaurant we had scoped out ahead of time - Blue Frog Grog & Grill. This is a restaurant that has it's own brewery onsite.
Doug had the Crab Melt - dungeness crab with a special blend of spices topped with provolone cheese and served open face on a fresh baked European style roll. He also had a Nitrogen tapped Pint.
I had the Pulled Pork Sandwich & Iced Tea.
Wonderful food yet again!!!
It was now time for the drive to Oakland (at rush hour time). The drive wasn't that bad. Doug got a little motion sensitive so I drove part of the way. We checked in to the Hampton Inn - Hayward,CA. The hotel was undergoing some renovation when we were there so it was a little messy at times. The hotel is not in a great neighborhood and there are not a lot of restaurants around...so I probably wouldn't stay there again.
For dinner, we ventured to an Applebee's near the mall. We sat in the bar area so we could watch the Texas Rangers game. They would end up and beat the Oakland Athletics. Yeah! We will see them play in person tomorrow.
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