Fall Means Apple Picking, Pumpkins, Cider Doughnuts and Caramel Apples

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Christine doing her best Jungle Book impersonation

This past weekend, a group of friends and I embarked on our annual apple picking excursion.  We made the short 20-minute drive out to Linvilla Orchards in Media, PA for our annual fall adventure.  We initially debated postponing because of a rainy forecast and overcast skies, but were all really glad we didn’t, as the rain held off and we had a wonderful afternoon celebrating fall. 

Kathleen picking some goldens

Once there, we got our two boxes and set off amongst the trees to pick our apples.  We spent the next two hours climbing into trees to pick the best (and largest) red delicious, golden delicious, granny smith, and Northern Spy apples we could find, while at the same time enjoying a few along the way.  There were some rookie mistakes (such as my friend Christine showing up in flip-flops…rain + being outdoors in the mud made this a bad idea), but overall we had a blast.  We picked two boxes worth of apples when all was said and done. 

Lindy with one of our two boxes

After we were done picking we went over to their market to pick up other fall favorites like apple cider, maple syrup, and honey crisp apples (yes, my girlfriend is an apple snob, and despite our two boxes already in the car picked up some honey crisps from the store because they’re her favorite kind). 

Caramel Chocolate Apples

Then the real fun began, as we went out to the restaurant area outside.  There were chocolate caramel apples (which claimed a permanent retainer as their casualty), apple cider doughnuts (which were delicious and only $6/dozen), caramel corn, and a shared apple cider slushie.  While we couldn’t convince my friend Ponney to paint her face, we did get to watch a bunch of adorable kids get theirs painted. 

In the Pumpkin Patch

Last but certainly not least, fall would not be fall without a discussion of Halloween costumes while perusing pumpkins.  I think my plan is to get an NBA jersey of some sort, and then strap some chains over my shoulders with a lock in the center (to make fun of the NBA lockout).  We spent much of this time, discussing past costumes (Lady Godiva, Michael Vick, 80’s Prom Queen,  and Rainbow Warrior were some of the highlights), and pumpkin designs (mostly scary faces with toothy grins, but Christine claims she is a master carver, having made the Death Star last year and Darth Vader the year before).  The pumpkins there looked great, but we thought that October 1^st might be premature to buy a pumpkin for Halloween. I guess we'll just have to go back to pick them out later this month

We decided to head home, and made a date for next Sunday to bake Apple Pie with our apples and drink some spiked cider.  I’ll keep ya posted on how those turned out.