Adventures and Donors

UUUUGGGHHHH!!!! How much further???????

Happy to be picking apples!!!

Very cute little Farmstand. They have a little grill that is opened on the weekends.

This is a veiw as we are driving down the mountain, these are the
vineyards on the farm and if you see the towers at the top of the
litte mountain in the back of the photo, we had to hike clear up
there for the apples. So, from the store to the top of that for the apples.

This is in front of the tavern

A few weeks ago, Brittany and I decided to embark on a little journey to go pick apples. It has become a fall must do for me. Life feels amiss if I don't get to an orchard and pick some lovely apples every year. So, we found an orchard, and drove 2 hours to get there. Beautiful country in this here state of Virginny!! I can see why the Waltons loved it so. In fact, we went to a mountain that overlooks Charlottesville VA. Those of you that are Walton's fans will remember that Charlottesville was the "city" that they would go to in the series. Anywho......it is also where Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate is located. We didn't do the tour as it was a whopping 22 bucks a person and we had just spent some moola at the orchard and it didn't seem too prudent. I do want to get back there to do that though, the area is amazingly beautiful. Anyway, as we were hiking (as the last of the apples available (fuji) were located on the upper (and I mean upper) part of the property) Brittany informed me that she didn't want to be a "bow and arrow donor". I asked her to repeat that?, And she said "you know where they take the bow and arrow out of your hip?" and gestured to her hip. I quickly realized what she meant and had to quickly turn around to hide the fact that I was cracking up! And then I told her, very calmly, "Britt, you don't have to be a bow and arrow donor and yes, you are right, it does hurt very much." And then we continued on to the top of the mountain to pick our apples with Britts "tourettes" in full swing as she wasn't too happy about hiking the @#$^^^$ mountain to get the "g^$#^&*(%&mn apples! "  And then she says, " and just so you know Mom, this is my "G#&$$%(mn workout for the day!" Oh, what a lovely day it was. We had a grand time. And I am sincere in this. We made it to the top, we picked a bag full of apples, we hiked back down the mountain and Brittany said, " I am sorry for all those swears mom, when we were going up the hill". "I just have a lot harder time going up than down, and I just got mad and said those bad words and I am sorry okay?" To this I say, "I know Britt, I know and thanks." And "I too find it a bit harder to go up rather than down". So, we then head back to the little farm store and pay for our apples, buy some apple cider donuts and a few drinks and head back down the mountain and head for home. We also stopped at Miche's Tavern at the bottom trying to get a hot meal before heading home, alas, they were closed as they only serve mid day meals there, in period attire. This was the community hot spot of the area back in Jefferson's day, it was a local little town center and the tavern was owned by a scottish man with the last name of Miche. Very cute, Amazingly preserved and a "Ordinary" that stops serving at 3 pm just in case you need to know. Yes, the restaraunt is called the "Ordinary", didn't find out why but you know I will probably google that later. Well, this post is getting very long, so I will end now.