Whether you like it or not the holiday season has definitely arrived, so you might as well embrace it. That’s why now's a good time to skip out on the holiday shopping—and maybe work—to see how all those candy canes get from the factory to the store.

Spangler Candy makes tons of candy canes each year, and they’ll be more than happy to show you how all the sticky and stripe-y creations come together. If peppermint isn’t your thing—don’t worry—they also make Circus Peanuts and Dum-Dums.

The factory is open each day of the week during the summer, but during the winter months the doors are open to visitors between Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 3pm. They’ve got a little store—for souvenirs of course—and museum, but they do recommend giving a call to ensure they’ve got a spot for you since it’s first come first served. ]]> kjb 2011-12-06T09:35:11-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/10/10/222613/47

What's better on a rainy fall day in Vermont than a pint of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream? Nothing, that's what. So last week when we found ourselves up in the Green Mountains, we did a road trip to Waterbury, to the original factory and home of Ben & Jerry's for their production tour. We ate ice cream, we got rained on in the Flavor Graveyard and we spent way too much on souvenirs.

The biggest obstacle to taking the Ben & Jerry's tour is getting up to Waterbury, because believe us—this place is rural and without any nearby public transportation. The options aside from renting a car and road tripping there is to join a group bus tour, and that was definitely the most popular option when we visited. Whole busloads of German, Welsh and Japanese tourists dropped by, in addition to Americans on fall foliage tours.

Once you're up at the factory, it's not long until the ice cream starts flowing. Pay $3 per adult for the tour, or check-in on Foursquare to get the tour for free. ]]> JetSetCD 2010-10-11T11:30:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/5/28/83058/1697

As you jam and shove those last minute essentials into your car before taking off and diving deep into the middle of traffic on the turnpike, you might realize that a little more room could make a summer road trip more pleasant. An RV is always an option, as long as you can get the thoughts of cliché family vacations out of your head. Sure they aren’t for everyone, but if you want to see what they’re all about before whipping out the checkbook you can always take a tour of the Winnebago factory in Iowa.

Winnebago Industries will be happy to show you around their facilities, and best of all they’ll give you the factory tour for free. You’ll see employees putting final touches on different aspects of the motor homes, as well as robots doing their thing to make sure all those welds are textbook perfect. Be on the lookout for upside down RVs outside of the factory, as the Winnebago workers like to flip over their final products to check for structural integrity. ]]> kjb 2010-05-28T10:49:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/5/25/23928/0042

Sure, Hawaii has breathtaking beaches and lush landscapes, but after some time it all begins to blend together. You can only take so much beauty before you need something to break up your relaxation, and that’s why we recently made a stop into the Dole Plantation on Oahu. Of course it’s a tourist trap filled with novelties, magnets, and collectible thimbles, but it’s one of the best darn tourist trap that we’ve ever been to.

Back in the good old days, the Dole folks actually used the land in and around the plantation to grow their cash crop and ran a little fruit stand, but now most of their pineapple bucks come from places like Costa Rica. However, that means they can now devote all the extra volcanic farm land to selling souvenirs—we’ll freely admit that we bought a shirt that says “Hug a Pineapple” and it would definitely make the tacky t-shirt list. ]]> kjb 2010-05-26T14:20:43-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/12/16/8810/7901

Become an informed consumer while still on vacation! Check out Jaunted's newest series of the best factory tours the world over.

Thanks to those radio stations that only play Christmas music, we’ve had thoughts of candy canes dancing through our head since Thanksgiving. Instead of just licking through a few of the sweet treats and drooling over some of the great holiday travel deals, we decided to do something about it, like take a tour of a candy cane factory. Right in Denver sits Hammond’s Candies, and they would love to show you around their place.

They’ve been making candy since 1920, and they continue to do things the old-fashioned way. You'll find more than just candy canes at Hammond's though; they have peppermint straws, clove pillows, and even some candy coal for those that have been naughty this year. Miles of ribbon candy including bunches formed into snowflakes are flowing through the factory now until the big day later this month. ]]> kjb 2009-12-16T11:44:44-05:00 39.8010189 -104.97810 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/10/142957/80

Beeeeer. While it's the drinking hour already here on the east coast, over in Los Angeles and Long Beach, they've still got a few more hours before it's socially acceptable to pop the top on a cold bottle of Hangar 24 Craft Beer. We were originally turned on to the unique Hangar 24 Brewery in Redlands, CA by the Lomography website, after someone used their fancy, artsy camera to capture the place's brewing magic and its hangar location.

Hanger 24 is relatively new to the microbrewery scene, having only opened in 2008, but the dream began in the skies:

Hangar 24 Craft Brewery began with a true passion for good beer, the absolute love of flying and the pure enjoyment of being around great friends. Founder and Master Brewer Ben Cook and his buddies used to meet at hangar 24 after an afternoon of flying to trade stories, talk aviation, play music and share a few cold ones that Ben just finished brewing at home.

]]> JetSetCD 2009-11-10T14:51:24-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/30/112413/05

Become an informed consumer while still on vacation! Check out Jaunted's newest series of the best factory tours the world over.

In this year's surprise horror comedy hit "Zombieland," a college student attempts to find out if his parents in Columbus, Ohio are alive. If you find yourself in the position of having to flee from a zombie invasion, you may want to hide in these Columbus-area factories—so take the tours now, just in case. ]]> egw 2009-10-30T16:04:18-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/