Distant Apple Orchards

Susanna and I visited an apple orchard just outside Sedro Woolley—a small town on the North Cascades Highway that is about an hour and a half away.  Well, we actually visited two.  After driving the long hour and a half, I helped a frustrated and fidgety Susanna out of her car seat, got her boots and jacket on, made sure I had everything I needed (wipes, our water bottles, a snack, etc), and then headed out to pick apples.  It turns out that the only part of orchard #1 that was open to the public was the store, so after all that hullaballoo (including the long drive) we simply bought a large box of jonagolds and found ourselves done with our outing.  What I am trying to say is that It was a bit anticlimactic.

Luckily, this is not where the story ends.  The nice lady who sold us the apples told me about a farm down the road that had a u-pick orchard so we drove the extra five miles for the farm experience.  It was a beautiful day and, except for the eerie music and witch cackles that occasionally wafted over from the haunted greenhouse, we felt like we had the farm to ourselves.  The lady at this farm was also very nice and she encouraged us to wander as much and as long as we liked and to eat as many apples as we could.  So we munched and wandered and picked a few apples.  It worked out just fine to go to both orchards: the apples at the first were less than half the price of those at the second, and having already gotten our tons of apples, we could roam around the second orchard without the pressure of having to do anything.

Here are some photographs.