Apples!

Remember a while back, Sarah & I were planning to go apple picking but the car wouldn't start so we postponed the trip?  I never mentioned it, but we made new plans to go.... and Sarah went to Florida instead.  She came back, and we made a new new plan to go apple picking... and it rained.  And rained and rained and rained.

Finally, the weatherman said the rain would stop.... but it was going to be 40 degrees and dropping into the low 20's by evening.  I wasn't exactly thrilled about going in such cold weather.  I'm weather phobic (I tend to get a little panicky if the temperature goes above 72 or below 65) and I assumed that if it was 40 degrees here at home, it would probably be about 6,000 degrees below zero on top of the mountain.  (The apples are grown on a mountain.)

The scenic route

Well, despite Mr. Weatherman's prediction, off we went (we took the scenic route and stayed off the interstate) and as it turns out, I wasn't too far off on my guestimate of the mountain's temperature.  It was FREEZING!  The wind was just .... just unspeakable.  

There's a reason they're called The Blue Ridge Mountains

We arrived at Carter Mountain Orchard which starts off on the side of the mountain.  We checked in, got out apple picking bags and the instructions on where we were supposed to go and up the mountain and into the orchard we hiked. Thankfully, once we reached the actual orchard and got lost among the rows of trees, there was no wind at all.  Just gloriously warm sunshine.

apple picking

Sarah and I each filled our bags with apples and had a good time laughing at my lack of coordination.  The paths between the rows of trees were pretty muddy in places and let's not forget, we were on the side of a mountain.  And I'll admit, I was looking up at the apples on the trees, not at the ground so I kept stepping on apples.  It really is a miracle I didn't break a bone, but at the same time, I imagine my slips and slides were probably YouTube worthy.

View from Carter Mountain Orchard's deck

After filling our bags with apples, we made our way back down to the barn where there was plenty of delicious hot apple cider and apple cider donuts awaiting us.

apples

And now we're home.  Home, wondering what the heck are we going to do with a bushel and a half of apples?