A great day for a visit to an Apple Orchard

It was a beautiful fall day in Minnesota. It was 84 degrees out! I just got back from a week in Atlanta and I don't think it was that warm there. Since my apple tree only produced a hand full of apples this year, we decided to visit an Apple Orchard. Evidently so did most of Minnesota! It was a pleasant drive down Hwy 61 - the trees are so pretty right now. We knew we were in trouble when we saw the overflow parking was almost full. We stood in a long line to taste samples and get bags for picking. We stood in another long line to pay admission and get in. The hayride was too full so we decided to walk out to the trees (we did catch a hayride coming back). We picked a bag each of Haroldson, Sweet 16, Honey Gold and Cortland. We stopped and played on the playground and fed the animals in the petting zoo. Then we stood in another long line (the longest so far) to pay for our apples (45 minutes - many people were abandoning their bags and leaving). In spite of the long lines, it was a beautiful way to spend the day. Now I have apples for jelly, drying and eating. I made baked apples for dinner and they were so good.