Nan and George were in town last weekend and we spent Sunday at the apple orchard. It came highly recommended by several friends. It Turns out it was a lovely spot perched on a rolling mountainside, just a little bit south of Asheville.
The kids ran up and down the rows, climbing in and out of the trees like squirrels. We tried our best not to loose each other as we roamed over the rambling hillside, sampling Stayman Winesap, Fuji, Mutsu, Granny Smith, and Arkansas Blacks. It was interesting to experience the differences in the subtleties of each of the varieties' respective flavors, clearly all apples are not the same.
We learned a few things for next year too, like to come on a weekday to avoid the amazing crowds and remember to bring a wagon because those baskets of apples get heavy, and it would be a shame to have to choose whether to abandon the freshly picked apples or the children, because two arms can only carry so much!
Warm sunshine, fresh air, crisp apples, and sharing the day with some of our favorite people in the whole wide world, I can't think of many things better...well, maybe a slice of warm apple pie!
