Apple Hill

It's fall.  So in fall there are certain things I believe that you HAVE to do as a family.  One of those things is a visit to Apple Hill.  We have gone every year that we've been here, and we always love it.  Today was a PERFECT day... warm in the sun, but definitely had the autumn air when you were in the shade.  We had a plan when we left, which I think is a good idea, and we set off this morning and spent a few hours exploring the farms, enjoying the beauty of the area, and eating and drinking apple products!

Favorites:
(I wish I took a picture of this)  Denver Dan's apple rings.  A MUST stop in my opinion.  This farm usually has apple picking, but their crop was lost to frost and so there was no picking there today.  But they have Big Al who uses an old fashioned apple peeler/ corer/ slicer to slice up juicy fresh apples and put them on your thumb.  It's the perfect way to get a kid to eat an apple.  Hannah had 2.  I bought an Apple Crisp to take to our friends for dessert.  Yummmmmm.

Also at Denver Dans are the alpacas and their side-kicks (a pig, a goat and a goose).  As mentioned before, Hannah is animal crazy, so of course this is another essential part of our trips to Apple Hill.  But any kid would love it - they are such strange animals.  And they LOVE their food!  So she and Oliver could have stood there all day feeding them.  Other bigger farms also have petting and animal areas, but this one was perfect because it was smaller, not crowded, and the kids didn't have to wait their turn... the animals were alll theirs.

Of course a main attraction for us going up Apple Hill is to actually pick your own apples.  Not all farms allow this, but we went again to the farm we went to last year to pick - Bolsters Hilltop Ranch.  We really did have to hunt, but in the autumn sunshine that was part of the pleasure.  And finding the last perfect apples was exciting for the kids.  We ended up with a big bag full.

For lunch we went to Bodhaine Ranch, where we had apple cookies, apple turnovers, apple-blackberry sour cream pie (so good we went in and bought a whole one frozen and waiting for Thanksgiving!), and apple salad.  I'd say we drank apple cider, but instead we bought apple cider for home, and just drank water!!  Ha!

After lunch it started getting busier, so we made a stop at Rainbow Orchards for their famous apple cider donuts, and another quick stop at Honey Bear Ranch's Fudge Kitchen.

Fresh air, delicious treats, family fun.  Perfect day.  And the kid slept the whole way home in the car, so we still had energy to join our friends for dinner.