Apple Picking

Rob and I went apple picking this past Saturday. It was a perfect fall day. Cloudy, cold and windy with the subtle smell of Autumn in the air. We drove up to the Illinois/Wisconsin border to a place called Oriole Springs Orchard. It's a 'no frills' kind of place. There aren't hay rides, corn mazes, thousands of kids running around screaming or any fun-filled family activities. It's just an orchard, with apples. I've already decided that this is going to be a yearly tradition. They had three different types of apples; Golden Delicious, Red Delicious and Jonathan. We chose to only pick the Golden and Jonathan. The Red was our least favorite of the three. We took our time picking and managed to get half a bushel which cost us $18. Not a bad price in my opinion. After our apple picking we drove down the road to Harvest Time Orchard to try their famous apple cider shakes. It was one of the best shakes I have ever had. It's worth it to drive the hour and a half up there just for these shakes. They also make apple cider and you can watch the process. So we sipped our shakes and watched them make apple cider. A perfect day! Now I have apples coming out of my ears so there is a lot of baking in my future. I've already made apple turnovers and my caramel apple pie and I still have more apples than I know what to do with. :)

Jonathan Apples

The Golden Delicious Orchard

Golden Delicious

Golden Delicious

I love a cloudy fall sky

ahhhhhh...

Fallen fruit