Apple Time

Current mood: Strangely calm.... Category: Life

This past weekend started like any other. It was a beautiful day, but I remained glued to the laptop while my husband was at work. However, during the course of the afternoon a friend suggested that I take my son apple picking. I like a good road trip, so I looked up Apple Picking online and found a place in Racine, Wisconsin called Apple Holler. I told the boy that I had a surprise for him, and he told me that he had a headache and didn’t want to go out. Being my mother’s daughter, I responded with “Too bad. Take some Tylenol, because we’re going out.” And so we did….

We got in the car about 4pm and hit the expressway to Racine. On the way we stopped at McDonald's for the boy, and Starbucks for me, and by shortly after 5pm we were at Apple Holler. The first thing we did was pay for a half bushel of apples. I so wish it had been an actual basket, but, alas, it was a plastic bag that would hold 20 lbs. or so. The young girl who rang us up reeled off the instructions about which apples were being picked, and told us we could eat anything in the orchard we wanted. We then rented a wagon and made our way to the orchard.

The place was pretty crowded, even this late in the day. The apples that were being picked were Jonathan and Golden Delicious. I'm sorry, but "Delicious" is a misnomer. I can't stand those apples. But I hate Red Delicious even more. So, Jonathan, which I love, was our apple of the day. We pulled the wagon past row after picked-over row of trees until the boy decided on one he wanted to try. We walked far into the line of trees, tripping over the discarded apples underfoot, and smelling the freshly fermenting apples in the air. Finally we came upon trees that still had apples in them.

The boy picked his first apple and I took a picture of him holding it. We walked down the row, picking apples, eating apples, and enjoying spending the time together. After we filled up the bag, we headed toward the pumpkin patch. I saw a great one right away and showed it to him. He said, "I want to check out the competition, mom," as he walked amongst the pumpkins. After he was sure he hadn't missed any he came back and said he'd picked the one I suggested. So, we put that into the wagon and went to pay for it.

Besides the apple picking, Apple Holler also has goats and ducks you can feed; a corn maze; tractor ride; homemade cider; cheese curds; corn on the cob; and more. The boy was up for the corn maze, so we put the apples and pumpkin in the car and came back, only to find out that the corn maze was closing. Ever the positive kid, the boy said, "We can do that next time we come here." So, instead of the corn maze, we went into the store to buy food. We got some clover honey, a package of cheese curds, a caramel apple, an apple pastry, and some pop. We ate the "apple blossom" (sort of an apple pie hot pocket, only square) there at Apple Holler, looking at the sunset. When we finished, we got back into the car and headed home.

We had planned on making apple crisp when we got home, but it was after 8pm, so we had to wait till husband walked to the grocery store the next day to get the ingredients. Today, the boy and I worked together to make the apple crisp, and I brought it to work with me tonight. By the time I got here it was more like apple mush, but it was still tasty, and my boy and my coworkers liked it. I'd like to thank my friend for suggesting the outing, because it was one of the nicest times I've spent with my son in a while. He just turned ten, so I know that these times are going to be fewer as time goes on and I need to enjoy them while I can.


Currently reading : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) By J. K. Rowling Release date: 21 July, 2007