A fruity adventure! Jeremy had told us to fly into either Visalia or Fresno airports to that they could pick us up from where they were staying. The best deal was Fresno and even though the California guidebooks said there was nothing to see there, I remembered from school that it is the major place where fruit is grown. It is particlarly famous for Sun Maid rasins and other dried fruits (about 200 different varities in the San Joaquin valley if I remember correctly). I thought that it was unlikely that we would be visiting that part of the world again so it would be good to see some of what goes on there. I phoned the Sun Maid raisin factory but was told that they did not do tours. Listed directly under them on on my internet search was a place called 'Sun Empire Foods'. So I phoned them. The man that answered the phone was wonderful and invited us for a tour of his factory where they process dried fruits into chocolates! (Candy here in the US). Much more exciting! But, we were to be there on a Sunday. Not a problem to him - he would open the factory especially for us! WOW!!! I will link their website in another posting so that you can have a look (and even order some) at the yummy and cool things that they do. This pic is of the almost 100 yr old copper bowls they use for coating some of the fruits and nuts. Apparently these work better than some of the newer stainless steel ones they also have.