An apple a day

...helps keep the doctor away or so I’ve heard. I’ve always liked apples. I thought they were fine as long as they were peeled for me or baked in a pie. It wasn’t until this time last year that I began a true love affair with the little red fruit. Last year was the first time we visited Apple Hill in Camino, CA. We visited on opening weekend. Never in my life had I tasted anything like the Golden Delicious apples we picked from the trees at Denver Dan’s. We had such a perfect day topped off by apple strudel and apple pie and couldn’t wait to get back. We had no idea that as the apple season progressed our idyllic Apple Hill would turn into (as one of our friends put it) "Apple Hell". On our second visit traffic was bumper-to-bumper, all the u-pick apples had been picked and the lines to get a slice of apple pie...well forget about it. This year we decided to try to beat the rush once again. We headed out to Denver Dan’s on Friday, the day before the majority of the orchards open for business over the Labor Day weekend. Once again we had the place to ourselves although we were told that our sweet Golden Delicious apples may have been a little under ripe. So, this time we went for McIntosh apples instead. They were still succulent, delicious, and heavenly. I had no idea there was such a difference between store bought apples and those freshly picked. In my next life I want to own an apple orchard. Here are a few pictures from our afternoon.