Apple pickin'

This past Sunday, Charlie and I drove up to New Paltz, NY to pick some apples, take photos, eat doughnuts, drink a lot of coffee, and otherwise enjoy a beautiful, warm autumn day.


We stopped first for McDonald's breakfast (requisite for any road trip, and may I just add that the McDonald's in Brooklyn on Meeker Ave. is the cleanest McDonald's ever?! Surprising, considering Meeker is basically a long on-ramp to the BQE). The sky was clear and blue, there was no traffic, and the high temp for the day was projected to be 74.

For music, I made a little fall mix with a bunch of stuff, but heavy on these three albums:



We stopped at a Target and a Michael's Arts and Crafts for a retardo shopping trip (and to use the little boys' room). I worked at Michael's in Gainesville in Archer Plaza - Gainesville's premier strip mall shopping destination - for THREE years (still my longest job to date) and I sometimes get nostalgic for the scented candles and silk floral arrangements. Funny how all those stores smell the same. It's like stepping back to college. How fucked up is that? The smell of floral foam and cheap potpourri is what takes me back to my college days. Well, that and Aqua di Gio.

Anyway, we got to New Paltz around 1, had lunch at Harrison's, which was disgusting, then went to look for an apple orchard. I went to one last year that had a petting zoo, a corn maze (maize maze), a pumpkin patch, fresh doughnuts, cider, chestnut trees, and a gorgeous view of the Shawangunk Mountains. We ended up stopping at that one again. It's called Dressel Farms.



They have about 25 varieties of apples. TONS of apples!! It goes on for rows and rows and rows.

I thought it might be a little late in the season and that the trees might have been a bit picked over, but no. We had plenty to pick from, taste, throw at each other, etc. This apple must have tasted weird or something.

Charlie had fun, too.

In the end, I think we probably got about 30 apples of several varieties.

We also did the other stuff they had at the farm, like:

Posing as Top Models!

Gettin corny in the maize maze (get it?!?!?!)

Checking out the pumpkin patch!

And visiting the little petting zoo with hungry goats! Goats are pretty cute. Did you know that?

Here are a few nice pictures of trees changing colors. So pretty.

We ended randomly picking up our friend Julio in New Paltz, and we all had dinner at a TGIFridays. Because everyone can use a little more Fridays, right?

These apples are going to be made into my next apple pie. I'm using the same recipe from Sherry Yard as below, but with major modifications. I'll let you know how that turns out. I hope to be able to work on that this Thursday. That means pie for my coworkers on Friday.

Thanks.