Bad Apples?

 Though we've been making an annual fall trip to Apple Hill for 3 years now, this year was unlike any we've experienced before.  Saturday traffic was unbelievable.  The roads winding around the 40 orchards and bakeries were at a standstill for long periods of time as cars just waited to pull into lots.  Then our favorite U-Pick place informed us that a late spring freeze had wiped out most of the area's crop, leaving just a few random farms with any apples even on their trees!  Was making the trip up into the hills even worth it this year?

The answer is "Yes!"  With a little extra effort, we found a new place that let us pick apples.  We skipped the places that were obnoxiously busy and just endured the crowds of those whose apples fares we couldn't live without.  We are the masters of the day trip, nothing can bring us down! :)

No trip to Apple Hill would be complete without a horse ride, and the girls are getting old enough to remember and remind us of this now!  At our usual pony-ride place, we even got the same horses as last time!  Since this made such a huge impression on Delia last fall, we heard about Cosmo, the horse she rode, all year long.  What joy to reunite with him today!

I always love the actual apple picking.  Today we plucked a little over 30 pounds of Fuji, Golden Delicious and Matsu apples off the trees.  We munch away as we're hard at work reaching for those high ones and lugging around those heavy buckets.

Something new this year was finding a farm that offered crafts for kids.  The girls pasted a pine cone with peanut butter and rolled it around in birdseed to make a feeder. 

Our day in Apple Hill concluded with the world's best apple donuts (still warm!) and fresh apple cider.  Some things are just worth waiting in long lines for. 

Though we were quick to say, "Uh-oh" when we first arrived in the traffic-a-plenty/apples-not-so-a-plenty Apple Hill today, the day was by no means a disaster.  One of the best parts of it was a visit we got to make to some good friends whose premature baby has been residing at a nearby NICU for 5 weeks now.  We got to meet sweet little Danielle and take her amazing parents out for dinner.  All in all...a GREAT day.