Apple Picking Day

The weather this afternoon was so nice - we went over to Ellijay again (as did a whole lot of other people), where everything was just perfect for some apple pickin'!  We popped in the banjo music and some other seasonal music, and made the drive over to Pickens county where the pickins were easy.  Lately, we've chosen an orchard called "Red Apple Barn."

This is a nice one, where they have to drive you out to the orchard.  It's a hay ride, where all the families pile into a trailer being pulled along by a monster tractor.  As we rode through the trail in the woods, kids threw hay and looked out on the other crops:  particularly a pumpkin patch that looked just about ready to harvest.  It was a sea of green and orange, and a reminder that October is just around the corner for us.  But today was all about the apples!

And as for the apples, this was a nice trip.  It's a steep trip, but the apples are plentiful.  There were all kinds of different apples, so we had an opportunity to sample some different flavors.  Ultimately though, the Rome apples and the red delicious flavors are the favorites.

Madison makes friends easily - there was another boy there about her age (maybe younger).  The two hit it off right away, fooling around and playing games before the trip to the orchard.  There was a corn hole toss and horseshoes, so there was plenty to do before we started collecting apples.

Afterwards, we went to the store up on top of the hill, where we got our apple cider and apple cinnamon doughnuts.  We also got some peanut brittle too - we munched on some snacks at the picnic tables there as we overlooked the fields below.

It was a pleasant day for doing this sort of thing - the weather has cooled off a bit.  In fact, in just a week, we're looking at the first day of Fall.  We took our apples home, where it was time to do some more of the regular things:  homework, piano practice, and video games.  Not much time for all of that, as we did spend quite a bit of time out on the road today.  But that was okay - it was a great day!