Day 657: Hammonds Candy Factory Tour

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Ben

Shabbos and Shavuos at the O family’s house here in Denver was wonderful. M and I learned until the wee hours of the morning.

Today we visited the Hammonds Candy Factory in Denver:

Hammonds produces high-end hand crafted candies. The candy is still manufactured by hand in what seemed to me to be a surprisingly small facility:

And the end of the tour, we received a complimentary lollypop and exited through their on-site retail facility:

We added our tour stickers to the sign outside:

On the way home, we stopped at what must be the largest skate park in Denver. The kids were initially too shy to test their skills, but towards the end of our visit M did try a few runs on his scooter:

At home, we decided to make our own taffy using the same techniques we saw at the factory:

The kids had to coat their hands with butter to avoid sticking to the taffy. I think M is saying “this is gross!”:

Tonight, Trish started working on larger Junior Ranger wall hangings for the kids, as they’ve completely filled their existing wall hangings with their patches and badges:

Day 439: Big Planes Made in the World’s Largest Building

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Ben

This morning we said goodbye to Kesser Israel, the synagogue where we’ve been staying on and off over the last three weeks. It was great to see all of our old friends, and to meet families that have moved to the community since our last visit.

Heading North, we just made it to the last tour of the day of the Boeing Everett Factory, led by docents from the Future of Flight Aviation Center. The building in which the planes are built is the largest building in the world, covering over 98 acres and enclosing over 472 million cubic feet of volume.

The first assembly line we visited was building 747-8s. Photography in the building is not allowed, but this is what it looked like:

Images Courtesy: Boeing

Looking over the massive floor space was amazing!

Next we boarded a bus to take us to the other end of the building, where the 777 is built. The planes are assembled on rolling platforms that move the planes along as they’re built at a rate of a few inches an hour:

Image Courtesy: Boeing

Across the balcony we saw the 787 being built. Unlike the other planes we saw being built here, sections of the 787 are built in factories around the world and are flown here by the massive 747 dreamlifter for final aircraft assembly. Incredibly, ten 787s per month are assembled here:

Image Courtesy: Boeing

We accessed the various assembly areas using a tunnel in the basement. Standing at one end, the door at the other end, nearly a mile away, wasn’t even visible:

Back at the visitor center, we could see the assembly building in the distance. The two buildings on the right are where the planes are painted. To get there, the planes are towed across a Boeing-owned overpass that crosses a freeway:

The visitor center has an extensive exhibit space as well:

A 747 cargo plane was parked next to the viewing area on the roof:

Looking out over the field where the planes are stored before being delivered to customers:

After the tour, we continued North to overnight at the Big 5 Sporting Goods in Burlington, Washington. See the trip map for driving details.

Day 82: Say Cheese!

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Ben

We left Bear River Casino and headed into downtown Loleta. I love towns where one can see farmland in all directions when standing in the heart of “downtown”.

I’m not sure what this factory was for back in the day:

We dropped by the Loleta Cheese Factory, where there are a couple viewing windows to watch the cheese-making process:

They also have a small garden out back:

Continuing south, we exited US 101 and drove the length of the Avenue of the Giants. Along the way, we stopped at a small room built under a hollowed out Redwood stump. The room is round and about 15 feet across:

Here’s the view from the outside:

The Avenue of the Giants goes into and out of old growth Redwood groves as it parallels US 101. I was mentally doing my best Endor forest speeder imitation as we wove our way through the groves:

We continued south after rejoining US 101, stopping for the night at the Red Fox Casino near Laytonville, California.

Day 37: Tillamook, OR

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Ben

We packed up this morning form our dispersed camping site in the Tillamook State Forest:

We ended up backing up down to the road, which was only a few hundred yards, but it was so steep that the weight of the RV would pull the back end of the SUV down slope whenever I would turn the SUV to change the RV’s orientation. We will be purchasing new rear tires next week.

We decided to head home by way of Tillamook, and stopped in to tour the cheese factory there: