Since we had such a great time picking apples last year, we wanted to go again this year and decided that Sunday was the day! Because we went a little earlier in the season this time (mid-September as opposed to early October), there was more of a variety for us to pick — Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Fuji, and Mutsu.
It’s October, and the air is getting crisp, the leaves on the trees are starting to change all sorts of beautiful colors, Starbucks has started serving their annual pumpkin spice lattés… it’s officially fall! Autumn is also the perfect time to go apple picking, and we decided to take Mio to go apple picking for her first time last Saturday. Actually, the best time to pick apples if you want a great variety to choose from is September, but there are still plenty of winter apples waiting to be picked in October. It was a beautiful day — hot, even (with highs in the mid-80s) — and it was the perfect weather for an outdoor outing! We chose to go to Hartland Orchards in Markham, Virginia, which is about a 50 minute drive west. The drive over was nice, as a lot of the trees along the highway are just starting to turn golden, with some hints of red.
Hartland Orchards also had pumpkin patches for picking pumpkins! Mio exclaimed, “pumpkin!” when she saw the fields of orange gourds.
Here’s a quick video montage that I put together of some moments from our apple picking outing, using the RoadMovies app on my phone!
At the end of the trip, we picked a whole bunch of apples and it only cost us a $1 at checkout! (We did spend a little more on some delicious apple cider they were selling there, though. I may not be a big fan of pumpkin spice lattés, but I could never turn down a glass of apple cider!) We have plenty of apples to munch on, and I smell some apple pie, turnovers, and tarts in the not-too-distant future… 🙂