Casa de Fruta

Today's travels took me to Casa de Fruta, a fun roadside attraction in Hollister, CA. It was a nice, warm and sunshiny day and I wanted to be outdoors. I also wanted to visit Casa de Sweets for some chocolate-covered fruit.

There are a lot of fountains around the property.

There are a lot of structures around, mostly farm equipment. Many of them are not safe for climbing, but this train was open for exploration.


Snow White and some of the dwarfs. These statues are just outside Casa de Coffee.


Casa de Sweets. There are rows and rows of chocolates, dried fruits, nuts, candy, more fruit, more nuts, and more chocolate covered items. There were cookies bigger than my head. That is not an exaggeration.


I brought home a pretty good haul: chocolate covered nuts, cherries, and blueberries; a 12-ounce bag of a variety of taffy; and a caramel apple. I really wanted a cinnamon candy apple but they didn't have any. Maybe on my next outing I will find one...


I have already eaten most of my candy. Unfortunately, included in the variety bag of taffy were some pieces of maple. Yuck! Maple is so gross. I thought it was peanut butter. That's another thing to add to my candy wish list.


A double-decker, old-fashioned carousel is open for rides.





Casa de ChooChoo. This is a leisurely ride around the property. I saw a lot of areas I have not seen in previous travels. It is a small train and if you have $3.50 to burn, it is a nice ride to take once. That charge is for bear cubs; mama bears ride free.


So I'm riding the train, enjoying the trees, peacocks, squirrels, ponds... imagine my shock and horror as we turn the corner and drive right past the biggest buffalo I have ever seen! And right next to it was its mother! There is no animal I fear and respect more than the buffalo. Had I known buffalo lived at Casa de Fruta I might have always taken 101 South rather than cut to I5 using 152.


At the end of the day I stopped at the fruit stand. More nuts and fruit, and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. And as Gilroy is next to Hollister, you know they have a lot of garlic. Since I put garlic in, well, just about everything I cook, I figured I would get a lot of use out of a three pound sack of it. The cashier said it would last six to eight months. Yeah, it'll be gone in about three weeks.