It's Always An Adventure

Last week my oldest daughter asked if we could go apple picking. She reminded me that the last time the family had gone apple picking was when we lived in Ottawa. I couldn’t believe that it had been that long. I guess it does take a bit more planning to go apple picking when you live in Manhattan. For one thing we don’t have a car and two, it is not always that easy to escape the many weekend activities. The girls really wanted to go and I decided that given how intensely crazy our September had been that an escape from the city and a day trip to the “country” was exactly what we needed. My incredibly generous friend Jessica offered to lend us her jeep and we were off on our day trip adventure. I had been given many suggestions for different orchards within a couple of hours of NYC. After a bit of research on the web, I decided that we would visit Weed Orchard located in Marlboro, NY, close to Newburgh in the Hudson Valley. It was about an hour and half from Manhattan. Based on traffic and the parking lot at the orchard we were not the only New Yorkers taking advantage of the spectacular fall day.

The orchard was packed but did not feel overwhelming. There was tons of parking and friendly attendants to direct you where to go. Once in the orchard there were plenty of signs to point you in the direction of the various activities and facilities. We put down a $5 refundable deposit on a wagon and made our way over to the apples. Each row of trees was clearly labelled with the type of apple and markers to indicate if they were ready to be picked. Even with the number of people at the orchard, often times we found ourselves alone. The kids had a blast running through the trees, picking carefully and climbing up to get to the “perfect” find. I enjoyed the sunshine and the laughter.

The scenery was beautiful and the weather was truly spectacular. We picked apples, had fun chasing each other and getting lost in the corn maze and basically just being able to take a deep breath and relax outside of the city. We decided to not stand on line for 45 minutes to sample the apple donuts but we did manage to score some fresh chocolate cookies right out of the oven. We left with a bag overflowing with apples, a huge jug of cider, apple butter and two chocolate candy covered apples. The kids considered this a most excellent success and made us promise that we would go back next year. Truthfully, I can’t imagine why we wouldn’t.

These little day trips outside of the city remind me how important even a little change of scenery and pace can be. We all returned to the city a little less stressed, a little sun and wind burnt and definitely happy and content. We also have a bounty of apples. We have been eating them like crazy, there is something about picking out your food that just makes it taste that much better! But, I do have feeling that apple pies, muffins and sauce may soon be filling up our kitchen too 😉

P.S. We did stop at Woodbury Commons Premium Outlets on the way back to the city… all I can say is WOW! I think I will have to save this as a totally different post. It is like DisneyWorld for shopping. I am still a little in awe of the whole experience. Not sure I can go back without a serious game plan and an intravenous caffeine drip. Not for the faint of heart. Serious shopping, people!