Apple Picking

Yesterday we had a fine adventure. We had been wanting for some time to go to an apple farm, since we are in such good apple country. Of course since we don't have a car it's a pretty big feat of planning. Since most of those places close after Halloween, though, this weekend was our last chance. Pocket of Bolts reserved the I-Go (car), we put all our work and stress on hold, and went off to Indiana!

The first thing we did when we got there was get coffee and hot cider, and pumpkin and apple cinnamon donuts. Then we headed off to the corn maze.







I had never been in a corn maze before and found it pretty fun. Pocket of Bolts said that this one was less dense and difficult than some he had been in. It did have some interesting features though. It was made to be on the "border" between two different states. On the Indiana side, there were stumps labeled with Indiana cities. On the Illinois side, Illinois cities. Part of the game was finding the stumps. Of course we wanted to find Chicago, and eventually we did find it.



Another cool thing was that there were some bridges where you could climb up and look down over all the corn in the maze:




After the corn maze, we went on to the main attraction: apple picking. The trees were just laden. In season right now at that farm were Fujis, Blushing Golds, and Sundances. Those were the ones we liked best. There were also Red and Golden Delicious, Galas, and McIntoshes, but we didn't want any of those.




Walking down the rows of heavily laden apple trees reminded me so much of the farm where I grew up. It had to do with the smell of apples starting to ferment, and the taste of slightly underripe apple in my mouth. We walked all around through the mud and tasted everything. Of course we also brought back a mixed bag of tasty tasty apples. They taste so much nicer when you get them straight off the tree than bought from the grocery store!

By the way, note the reappearance of my old grey coat! I have had that coat for a really long time, and the lining was in tatters. I hadn't been able to find anyone who was willing to repair it, apparently a big and difficult job. Then I made the acquaintance of a seamstress, who did the alterations for my wedding dress. She said that of course many people weren't willing to reline a coat, but SHE was trained in Germany, and of course such a thing would be no problem. So my parents took it to her and got it relined (also cleaned). The new lining is lovely, actually nicer and heavier than the old lining. Now that the wind is getting chilly, it's nice to have my old coat back.