Factory Tours as Adventure Travel

ByABC News
September 5, 2002, 3:53 PM

Sept. 6 -- What's your passion? Golf? Chocolate? BMWs?

A factory tour offers total immersion in something you love and usually comes with shopping, sightseeing and entertainment on the side. Watching technicians meld the head of a golf club or standing on a balcony watching a worker flavor an entire vat of your favorite ice cream adds a new dimension to your appreciation of a favorite food or gadget.

Let's say you're enamored of the Big Bertha power-hitting golf club. The Calloway Golf Company (www.callawaygolf.com) offers 45-minute walking tours of its 450,000-square-foot plant in Carlsbad, Calif. Visitors can watch staff work on a grip here, add a medallion for weight there and other processes that go into the creation of the company's famed woods and irons.

Plus, the plant is within a half hour of San Diego and all that it has to offer. That includes another attraction located in Carlsbad, Legoland, as well as the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld and, of course, 90 golf courses.

High-Performance Vehicles

If speed is more your game, BMW's only U.S. manufacturing plant is in Greer, S.C., and right next to it is the BMW museum , the Zentrum (www.bmwzentrum.com/), where aficionados can see a collection of famous race cars and "art" cars (customized BMWs) as well as a timeline covering BMW milestones.

Visitors can also take a plant walking tour to see the Z3 and X5 models under construction. (Note: these tours are not being conducted at the moment but will resume Oct. 1. The company is taking reservations now).

The cutting-edge architecture of the plant itself with its gleaming glass and metal walls makes the trip worthwhile. Greer is a gateway to South Carolina's Upcountry, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Museum of Glass

The Corning Museum of Glass' (www.cmog.org) roots go back to CorningWare kitchen staples such as Correlle and Pyrex. Corning Inc. has sold that part of its operations to World Kitchen, but Corning remains the major benefactor of the not-for-profit glass museum.