So Michael, Tesse, Duncan and I all drove out to
an apple farm in Orange County, New York. I got up early Saturday morning and dressed appropriately--my new sequined pumpkin tee-shirt, a thermal long-sleeved shirt underneath it, braids and my pumpkin cap. We all met at the Avis in Midtown and while we were waiting in line Michael offered to get me coffee. I gave him my Starbucks card and asked if he could bring me a pumpkin spice latte. Apparently Michael HATES Starbucks but very nicely got me one anyway, even calling me at the counter to ask if I wanted whipped cream.
The drive was guh-moregeous. The leaves this year are not as dramatically beautiful as they have been in the past, but they still looked just lovely. When we got there, we headed immediately to the
winetasting section--we got 6 tastings for $3, and then the very nice woman who took us through the tastings even gave us extra (I think we actually got 9 tastings). We got a lil' loopy on wine and bought some--I got a bottle of "Apple Blossom Blush" and Blackberry wine. I'm glad we did the wine first because later on it was very crowded.
Seth and Rachel joined us, and we all piled onto the tractor trailer and went to the orchard. I kept whipping out my football and throwing passes to Michael. I think I need to buy a better football, because my yellow one is somewhat deflated and a little small. OTOH, it IS lemon-yellow, which is so me! When we got to the orchard, the first trees we saw had small and unimpressive apples--then we noticed the trees farther back had much bigger apples toward to top. We
could've used the apple-picker, but what fun is that? I climbed up several trees and pulled them off, dropping them into Michael's and Duncan's bags. I love climbing things. God should just save time and reincarnate me now as a 10-year-old boy, because clearly that's what I'm meant to be. I am just such a tomboy. I love jumping off things and climbing them and throwing things.
The one tiny flaw in the day was the weather--it was beautiful but a little too cold and windy. When we were in the sun it was okay but I had to keep my jacket on most of the time, which covered up my pumpkin-tastic sequined tee-shirt.
We had hot cider and cider doughnuts (mmmm...) and hot dogs and chili, and then we rode the tractor again, to the pumpkin patch. I got one sugar pie pumpkin, to puree and make pumpin bread and pie. Then we drove home, although we got a bit lost finding our way back out. The countryside is so pretty there though, so even lost, it was lovely. When we got back into the city we opened up the trunk and discovered our apples had gotten out of the bags and commingled promiscuously. They were all over the carpeted bottom of the trunk (which was very clean) and some had gotten bruised. I scolded them for their misbehavior and then we divvied them up. I can't wait to make some apple pies and apple bread.