A Pomegranate Affair

I was whisked away for three days last week to beautiful Fresno, California, by the lovely POM pomegranate company.

When I was first contacted a few months ago, I could hardly believe my luck. POM wanted to fly fifteen bloggers to Fresno to tour the orchards and factory for a "Pomegranate Harvest Tour" and asked me if I would like to go. I hesitantly said yes, but was afraid it was too good to be true.

Until I was sitting on the plane last week, I still thought that was the case. Why was I chosen? Who else will be there? What is the point of all of this? These are questions I asked myself, and they were soon to be answered.

I flew from Springfield to Dallas, Dallas to Fresno. Here are a few things you should know before you fly:

1. American Airlines does not offer chocolate milk. Sad face.
2. AA does not offer free snacks. I prefer flying Delta, because you get a choice between pretzels, peanuts, and Biscoff cookies. I recommend Biscoff cookies. You're allowed to take two packages, which I recommend also.
3. Do not let your dogs out of their carriers and allow them to run through the plane and growl at people.
4. I prefer a seat right by the wing, because it allows you to watch for possible gremlins.
5. Do not sit by me on a plane. I sleep with my eyes open and it's just as scary as a gremlin.

It turns out I was sitting closely to three other POM bloggers on the flight from Dallas to Fresno, and didn't know it. But no worries - we found each other later on. We split a thirty dollar cab ride to the Courtyard Marriott in Fresno. I kind of prefer Red Roof Inns and Motel 6's but whatever. ;)

I'm kidding, of course. It was a lovely hotel and I had this huge room all to myself. King sized bed, a couch, mini fridge, a balcony... what else could a girl ask for?

How about some POM swag?! OH MY GOSH YES.

Included in the bag: POM iced coffee, POM shirt, POM notebook, POM cookbook, POM potholder, POM cider mix, POM pen, POM coupons, and a clear box that you can use to pack future lunches in.



All of the bloggers met in the hotel lobby later and we went to dinner at BJ's Brewhouse.
I will resist making jokes, I will resist making jokes, I will resist making jokes.


I hadn't had BJ's before, but a lot of the other bloggers had and enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to trying some BJ's. I thought maybe BJ's would help me relax after a long day of traveling. This pomegranate margarita did the job!
Get your minds out of the gutters. Geez.


Here are all of the wonderfully talented bloggers that I had dinner with. The majority are health and fitness bloggers. I thought I lived a pretty healthy lifestyle, but I was wrong. All of these women have inspired me to exercise more and eat better. That's something I had no idea I would be taking away from this trip. I'm also inspired to create more health conscious recipes.

Let me introduce you to them:
Shirley of Gluten Free Easily, Heather of Heather Eats Almond Butter, Gina of the Fitnessista, Caitlin of Healthy Tipping Point, Tina of Carrots 'n' Cake, Coco of Balance, Joy and Delicias, Bren of Flanboyant Eats, Roni of Green Lite Bites, Janel of Dine Dish Delish, Eric of Eric Rivera Cooks, Pace of Taste of Pace, Sagan of Living Healthy in the Real World, and Kristy of the Wicked Noodle.



We all split these not-so-healthy desserts. A cookie trio of peanut butter, chocolate chip, and double chocolate chip, served with ice cream. I think a warm cookie and ice cream is just about my favorite dessert ever. There was also an apple crisp that was to die for.

The next day we woke up bright and early and hit the hotel breakfast bar. It had a Belgian waffle maker which I spotted right away. Oh man, I love Belgian waffles. You know what I love even better than Belgian waffles doused in butter and syrup? Making Belgian waffles in a Belgian waffle maker that you get to flip upside down. That is fun, fun stuff.

But guess what? I felt ashamed when I saw that everyone was eating oatmeal and fruit, so I skipped the waffles, danish and bacon, and had oatmeal too. :(
I know... sad, right? You know what else is sad? Dying at the age of twenty-four of a heart attack because you ate too much waffles and bacon.

So after breakfast we hopped into these huge vans and drove to the pomegranate orchards. We drove by lemon trees, pistachio orchards, and grape vineyards. I had never seen anything like that before. I wanted to tear open the van door and leap into the orchards and start picking stuff. Fresno is beautiful, flat farmland, surrounded by mountains. I don't know the statistics, but I bet most of our USA grown fruit comes from this area.


The pomegranate orchards are right next to an almond orchard. We walked through the orchard and took some pictures. I love almonds.




I picked three almonds. I don't think I was supposed to do that, but I did anyway. I put them in my pocket and walked briskly back to the van, observing my surroundings to see if anyone had caught me.
This reminds me of the time when I was five and stuck a walnut in my pocket at the grocery store.



The planes arrived at that point, and it was time to fly over and tour the pomegranate orchards!
This is actually the larger plane... I rode in the smaller plane, which sat four, in the second batch of people.


Caitlin and Tina went in the first batch of people, and then blogged about their experiences right after. Talk about dedication!


Me, posing and squatting awkwardly on the wheel.


Me, getting ready to fly the plane.


Noooo, just kidding. That's our pilot in the blue.


This is Shirley, Pace and me in the plane.


Take-off! Wheeeee! I love flying.





Shirley! We're riding in a plane, Shirley!


Beautiful POM orchards.


We were up in the air for about fifteen minutes before we landed. It really felt like only thirty seconds.


Oh. My. Gosh. Is that... is that what I think that is outside my window?? Surely not. No. It can't be.

Part two of my trip coming soon!