NCSY GIVE WEST: Day #17-18

One does not visit San Francisco without journeying across the famous Golden Gate Bridge, a wonder of the engineering world! Yesterday, we walked the bridge together from one end to the other, heads hooded and arms linked to resist the windy weather. We gazed out over the water and took in the stunning views. Once we made it across, we boarded the bus to head to our tour at the Jelly Belly Factory! After doing chabura just outside, we entered the top-secret factory where no pictures or videos are allowed. Our guide handed each of us a Jelly Belly factory worker hat, mandatory to wear in order to enter the official Jelly Belly halls. We learned about the history of the jelly bean and the Jelly Belly company, peered down from above to watch the employees hard at work, and received free packets of Jelly Belly jelly beans at the end. The walls were filled with framed professional artwork made entirely of Jelly Belly jelly beans! We returned to the hotel to a pleasant surprise- fleishigs for dinner during the Nine Days thanks to our NCSY GIVE WEST program “father” Yaakov Borenstein who made a siyum on Masechet Shabbos! We sang and celebrated the completion of a portion of his Torah learning and began the next Masechta all together. After a heavenly dinner, we jumped right back onto the bus for a fun night out at the bowling alley! We had an awesome time bowling and cheering each other on. This morning we let the girls sleep in a little bit to recuperate from many days and nights in a row of jam-packed touring, chessed, learning, and fun to recuperate and make sure everyone was well-rested for today’s huge road trip! We spent the day on a long drive from Vacaville over to Grants Pass, Oregon. The drive may have been long, but it took us all across the coast with the most stunning of views. We felt humbled by the tremendous trees surrounding us as we drove through the Redwood Forest. We could barely see the tops of the trees and sat in awe of Hashem’s creation. We pulled over and stepped out onto the beach as the sun began to set and the Pacific Ocean glimmered before us for a beautiful mincha in nature. Our journey continues early tomorrow morning until we arrive in Seattle, Washington, where we have planned to spend an uplifting Shabbos and Tisha B’Av together this weekend.