Category Archives: Factory Tours

Factory Tours

Hornady Factory Tour – Grand Island, Nebraska

The Hornady Factory Tour of the Factory is really informative. It is an incredible factory tour through a manufacturing plant that makes 5 million bullets a day, Everyday, all year long. From little tiny bullets to 50 caliber bullets, they make them all and are very proud of their product.

When you enter the lobby it is like entering a natural history museum The trophy’s that these people have on their walls and standing on the floor are incredible. You name the animal and it is mounted here.

No photos were allowed while on the Hornady Factory Tour while inside the shop where they make the bullets. Photography is, however, allowed in the office where the mounted animals they have taken over the years are mounted. It is like going into a natural history museum however it’s in a workplace.

Incredible Factory Tour

The Hornady factory tour has an incredible feel due to all the machinery. The staff which numbers in the hundreds has an amazing number of processes in place all the time. There are people inspecting the bullets, both visually and by weight. There is lots of lead and it is in both solid and liquid form. The machines used to create the casings and the processes they use are well tested and create product that is top notch.

The gal who took me around the plant was very knowledgeable as she had worked there over 20 years and knew the place and everyone in it, at least that was the way it felt. Hornady employs hundreds of people and is a family-owned business. A most interesting factory tour no matter where you stand on their product. It’s always good to know what’s going on in the world. And if you want precision ammunition, this sure looks like the place to be.

Factory Tours, Largest, Museums

Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory Tour

Louisville Slugger Museum - StupidVacations.com
Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory

The Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory Tour is a must see for all baseball fans. What fun! These guys have had the professional baseball bat market covered for over 100 years. The tour is informative for all, and incredible for a baseball fan. No pictures are allowed inside the factory, (some union issue) so you will have go there to see it! The Factory Tour take you from a tree to a finished bat, including how it was done then and how it is done now. The tour guide was oh so very helpful and informative. And as an added bonus at the end of the tour you receive a mini-Louisville Slugger bat as a souvenir.

Louisville Slugger Museum Factory Tour
From Tree to Bat on the Tour

There is a movie theatre with a show on the history of the Louisville Slugger and all the batting heroes of baseball’s past. It is a nice diversion and quite enlightening. Around the facility there are many photo opportunities with murals and statutes as backdrops to make some nice memories. The wall of signatures is sure to please baseball fanatics. The Very nice facility, happy workers, a nice theatre make for a wonderful experience. Continue reading Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory Tour →

Factory Tours, Oddities, Points of Interest

Bronson Caves – The Original Bat Cave

Bronson Caves - Hollywood Hills
Bronson Caves – Follow Me

Bronson Caves is really easy to find. Especially if you don’t use Google Maps. Just go up the Canyon Drive all the way to the end you’ll see you small parking lot on the left that serves about 15 cars. It also says Hollywood Land Park. As you come up Canyon Drive the signs say Park Road Closed Ahead, pay no attention, to these

Bronson Caves Parking Lot
Bronson Caves – Parking

unless it is the middle of the night.  If you come early and get a spot there then you walk back down Canyon Dr about 50 feet and you will set on the left (west) a dirt road that leads up the hill. Typically that gate is shut to stop cars. You can walk around the gate easily. On this day the gate was open. I thought how odd but I parked and walked up the dirt road anyway. As I continued up the road Continue reading Bronson Caves – The Original Bat Cave →

Factory Tours, Points of Interest

Hilmar Cheese Factory

The Hilmar Cheese Factory is one of those places you just might drive past as you travel up or down the huge central valley of California. As I really enjoy factory tours, I stopped. I had my two boys with me, and they loved it! I mean they really loved to the tour and especially the samples. It was incredible to here them, a few months later. want to go here rather than a big amusement park in southern California. I think that may be due to all the cheese we consume. An I mean Consume.

The Hilmar Cheese Factory is Family Fun

Educational Tours Available

The tour now includes a chance to make ice cream that is very educational. For those of you who would like share the Hilmar experience, listen up, free educational tours. Tours for groups of 10 or more school children can tour for free. This includes the chaperones. What a wonderful deal as the educational effects of the hands on tour can be a lasting memory for a child. I encourage all schools to get the children over to the cheese factory and learn about how it all comes together. What an opportunity.

100 Percent Sustainable

The Hilmar Cheese Factory prides itself on the one hundred percent sustainability of their facility. Their practice of ecology is definitely one to use as a model.

The visitor center has a sandwich bar and deli that is really a gourmet experience. The number of choices and the brilliant friendly environment make The Hilmar Cheese Factory a great lunch stop for all of you working people. The entire facility is family friendly and that is such a plus.

Any way you slice it, melt it, or grate it, the Hilmar Cheese factory is is a must stop for our family.

Fernando Castillo
Fernando Castillo

Fernando is a major scooter enthusiast. You can find him all over California,  Nevada  and Arizona with Scooter Clubs from all around California. He is passionate about good food and is a constant contributor to Stupid Vacations, YELP, and Trip Advisor. Follow him on the web and the back roads of the southwest.