Apple Hill

In the spirit of the fall season, Mommy thought it would be fun to take me apple picking, so we took a trip to the place to pick apples, Apple Hill. Apple Hill is a collection of orchards, pumpkin farms, wineries, and Christmas tree farms in Placerville, about an hour east of Sacramento. There are produce stands, you-pick orchards, bake shops, bbq stands, arts and crafts booths, picnic areas, and lots of activities for kids. It's a fun place to visit, but gets really crowded during the fall.

Since it was a three hour drive to get out there, we made a weekend trip out of it and spent two days farm hopping. Unfortunately we went at the end of the apple-picking season, and discovered that almost all of the orchards were already out of apples to pick! We thought we had driven all the way there for nothing, but ended up finding one orchard that still had apples left.

Here are some pictures of everything we did (and ate)!

Train ride at El Dorado farms.

Free apple samples at Denver Dan's!

What do you eat when you go to an apple farm? Freshly baked apple pie of course, topped with a gigantic scoop of vanilla ice cream.

We were hooked on the fresh pressed apple cider offered at almost every farm. They don't sell this at our local grocery store so everywhere we went, Mommy had to buy a container. 

Hot n' fresh apple cider donut at Rainbow Orchards

Pony ride at High Hill Ranch, one of the biggest and most crowded ranches there.

Hayride!

High Hill was also home of the famous apple cider milkshake. Yum.

Boa Vista Orchards famous hand-dipped corn dogs. Mommy also bought a fresh frozen apple pie from here. Can't wait til Thanksgiving to eat it!

The highlight of the weekend was definitely picking the apples. Although most orchards were already picked over, we were lucky enough to find a small one that still had apples left. They were harder to find, but hunting for them made it even more fun. I was so excited every time I found and picked an apple off the tree!

A farmer showed us a tree that still had a ton of cute little fuji apples. Even though they were small, he said, they were full of sugars and were the best apples. We went and picked away. He was right, they were delicious! 

Apple picking was such a fun experience, I hope this becomes a new annual tradition!