Trip to Carter Mountain Orchard

Yesterday everyone except Phill, Jack, and me took a trip to Carter Mountain Orchard to pick apples. (Phill was working, Jack and I were sleeping most of the time.)

The orchard sits atop a hill from which you can see most of Charlottesville on a clear day. It really is a lovely place to visit. I've been there with Inwe and Larien for the past two years. Not only can you pick your own apples, but you can buy already picked apples, eat apple cider doughnuts, and buy various apple products from the big red barn. There are also hay rides on the weekends for visitors.

It's important to know that the orchard is on top of a hill, because you have to walk down into the apple trees to do your picking. This means that you should pay attention to how many you have as you have to trek up to the store and the parking lot. My family came home with 29 pounds of apples, ranging from red delicious to golden delicious and another kind that Pop Pop can't remember the name.

The group sat in the building to eat cheese, apples (of course), doughnuts, and drink grape sodas after picking the apples. Pop Pop and Inwe tried to play some checkers.

They also came home very tired and some members were dirty. Well, Inwe was really dirty as she tumbled on some apples and rolled down the hill twice. Larien came home with a scrape on her elbow. Auntie J and Uncle L arrived home ready for a long nap from trekking back up the hill through uneven ground strewn with fallen apples. Pop Pop carried Larien on his shoulders the entired time, and as you can tell in this picture got sweaty and exhausted. I believe only Mom Mom came home with some energy left.

Overall, everyone had a great time. I made a pie with the apples. The pie is already gone.