Who said you can’t be a tourist in your own neck of the woods? We only moved to New England 10 months ago, so “technically” we are still in our honeymoon phase, right? Well one thing is for certain- we’re both apple picking virgins!

My husband and I saved ourselves all these years, and we finally decided it was time…

His co-worker mentioned that it was tradition to go apple picking in New England during the Fall. Well, we wouldn’t want to break tradition now would we? I figured this weekend would be the most opportune to get a leg up before the weather cooled down and pickins get slim. A few grim comments on a Boston apple picking forum mentioned something about “1 hour lines, just to get inside,” and “nothing left on the trees.”

Now feeling some urgency, we did a bit of research (5 minutes Googling), and pinpointed the nearest orchard we could find called Shelburne Farms (about 30 minutes outside Boston). To our surprise, we arrived to find more than a few desolate trees and fruit flies hovering the farm. There were bushels of people frolicking in the orchard, pony rides, a real pumpkin patch (not one transported by a truck), and best of all, acres of trees dripping with apples!

Hypnotized by the beautiful surroundings, we immediately fell prey to their tourist traps. We succumbed to the aroma of their freshly baked apple pastries, sipped cinnamon apple cider, played among the plump and pretty pumpkins, and blindly prepaid $14 for a small plastic bag to later fill with apples. Oh, and we threw in an extra $4 bucks for Ella to run wild in this…

I believe there is something similar for mice in a lab somewhere, but I imagine it’s at a much heavier cost to the participants. So I guess I should not complain.

This farm offers 4 different apple varieties: Macintosh, Cortland, Macoun, and Empire. None of which I had tried or heard of before, except for Macintosh. We could not resist sneaking in one quick bite during our quest for the red gems.
Okay, maybe two.
FINE, it was three! But everyone was doing it!

I’ll be honest. I am a little appled out. Not to mention, allowing a 2-year old to eat this much apple was not conducive for my limited diaper stash. Riki will to have to schlep this 10-pound bag of treasure to his co-workers for them to enjoy. But hey, a day of clear sunny skies, breathtaking New England landscapes, and tummies full of apple goodness; who could not ask for a more glorious way to spend a Fall afternoon.

The yummiest ones are up there!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 1st, 2007 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Daily, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.