Thursday, May 29, 2008

Day 19: Rainy Days & Moose Munch

Well, we had to change our plans to indoor plans today since it was raining all day long with no end in sight, but we made the best of it. Our printer has been having problems lately and of course Kodak is no help. They sent us parts and we switched them out but it still doesn't print from the laptop. It will copy and scan but not print. So we bought a cheap (Ha ha) HP printer today. We ate lunch at the HomeTown Buffet. They had really good food but the place was packed! We sat at a booth in the back behind a HUGE family. Glenn said they were speaking Hawaiian, and they looked Polynesian, so okay. They had some really tiny babies that were absolutely gorgeous! From there we went to Harry & David's to take the 1:30 pm plant tour. It began to pour rain once we were inside the country store buying our tickets.

Our tour guide and shuttle driver. She told us that Harry & David's was the largest employers in the Medford area. It is a very impressive company.

Above is the administrative offices of Harry & David's that we drove by in the shuttle bus. The tour guide said that in order to make this plant more attractive to those driving from San Francisco to Portland the brothers (Harry & David) made the building more aesthetically pleasing by adding the twin towers. It is an impressive looking building, as is the factories/plants we toured today.

We are standing in the foyer of the candy factory. Little did we know the large box behind us opened up to a refrigerator full of samples for us. YUMMY! The entire foyer smelled like chocolate when we walked in...I was in heaven!

This lady is dusting powdered cocoa on white chocolate covered coffee truffles...are you drooling yet?
Then we went upstairs to watch them make a batch of Moose Munch...
Then on to the packaging department...

From here we traveled to another building where they package the fruit and gift baskets. Evidently Harry & David's is world renowned for their pears. We passed one of their orchards, but with the rain and they evergreens they use to block the pollutants from vehicles, I did not get a good picture.At this station they are packing gift baskets of fruit and stuff then sending it through a machine that shrink wraps it for shipping.

Harry & David's is also known for their tower of treat boxes, which these workers are putting together.Impressively this company is a "green company," here is a sign they had posted.

Not only do they recycle, but they also support local soup kitchens and the community in general. We saw a shift change during our tour of the packaging plant. Out guide told us that each employee is required to do stretching exercises before stepping onto the floor before work and after each break. They also rotate jobs when they return from a break so it won't become tedious. Id you ever get to Medford, this is well worth it, even in the rain!

At some point during the tour our guide said something about Moose Munch coffee. Harry and David's makes a Moose Munch Coffee...well, you know I had to try that, right? Low and behold, when we got back to the store, they had just brewed a fresh pot for sampling.

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