Address: 2 Cactus Garden Dr.
Date: March 2020
Website: www.ethelm.com
Franklin Mars started the Mars Candy Factory in 1911 with his wife Ethel. Today Mars makes Snickers, Twix, Mars bars and more. Ethel is the Ethel M from a popular chocolate factory near Las Vegas, Nevada.
While in Vegas you can take a short drive to see Ethel M chocolate being made in the factory. It is made in small batches with no preservatives.
The tour starts with a taste of some chocolate. So far so good. You then wander past the machines where the chocolate is prepared. Next it is more machines that fill multiple molds and create patterns on top of the chocolates and then put them into cases and boxes.
The end result is something like the giant chocolate wall at the end of the tour. Thanks to all the different shapes and patterns you can identify which pieces to eat first when sampling from a box.
After our tour we enjoyed a chocolate cappucino and some chocolate dipped strawberries. Very nice.
Next it was outside to take a tour of the cactus garden located just behind the factory. A little desert after dessert.
If you still feel like food, there was purple pancake cactus on display. We don't think they were very edible.
There was a couple of Joshua Trees.
As well as a nice view of the mountains.
There was also wildlife to be found in amongst the cactus. Above is a male Costa's Hummingbird that is known for its purplish head if caught in the right light. Its head feathers also sort of flare out on the sides. It was sitting surprisingly still for a hummingbird.
A small white, grey bird with a yellow head was all over the place. We managed one good photo of it as it moved from branch to branch faster than we could get it into focus. These birds are fairly common in Nevada and are known as Verdin.
We enjoyed our visit to Ethel M. A great chocolatier knows that chocolate and cactus work well together late in the afternoon.
Map of Our World
Ethel M Cactus Garden
Ethel M Chocolate Factory
Post # 280
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