A very sweet day!

On my way to Robyn’s this morning, I stopped off at one of those hand wash car places to get the poor Focus cleaned up.  It was more than worth it to me to have it cleaned inside and out for $20.  I’m not one to keep the car in sparkling clean condition, and the dust that coated the inside has been there since last summer.  I got all that dust on the back roads around Yellowstone.  Shameful, really, but it’s just not high on my priority list.  Maybe, if I were a guy, I’d feel differently about it.  At any rate, the car looks better now than it has since I drove it off of the dealer’s lot over two years ago.  They even got most of Emma’s hair off of the back seats.   Sweet!!

Once I got that taken care of, we were soon off to the Albanese Candy Factory in Merrillville, IN.  Turns out it was only about a 15 minute drive from Robyn’s house.  I had found out about this place on a website I have about factory tours across the United States.  I like factory tours, and that’s how I found out about the cows at Fair Oaks Farms.  Compared to Fair Oaks Farms, this was a real disappointment. 

The tour, if you could call it that, consists of walking on a boardwalk above the sales floor and listening to three short videos as you walk along.  We did see thousands of red gummy bears coming off of the belt through three windows, but that was about it.  The windows where you view their chocolate making operation were shuttered, so three windows with no one doing anything was about it.  I was not impressed.

Once you get back down on the sales floor, the selection was amazing.  You can have free samples of anything you would like to try, and I took advantage of that in the chocolate section.  What did I end up with?  Some chocolate covered raisins, dark chocolate toffee bars, and dark chocolate covered pretzel balls.  I’ve got enough chocolate to satisfy me for months.  I’m not big on sweets, but a nice piece of chocolate is nice now and then.

I’m more of a salty crunchy type of person, and I just may have to go back before I head south for some flavored sesame sticks, or something like that.

 

They did have a large selection of sugar-free candies for folks with that dietary need.  I never did make it into the gummy bear section.  The girls were getting a little antsy by then.  Luckily, they are young enough to not realize we were in a candy store.  I’m just sorry I didn’t get any shots of them while they ate their Oscar the Grouch rice crispy bars.  The green frosting that covered the round Oscar on a stick, was all over their hands and faces.  What a mess, but it sure kept them busy on the drive back to the house. 

 

So, if you’re ever in need of a candy fix, this is the place to go.  But I sure wouldn’t recommend going here  expecting a ‘must see’ factory tour.  It was a sweet day, for sure!

 

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy