Today I went apple picking at a local orchard. I have gone to the same orchard to pick apples for about twenty years, so I know the place fairly well. I bought my bags at the main barn and headed down. It was a long walk to the trees, and while there are hay rides sometimes, they weren’t running today. The guy who drove the tractor for hay rides was around, and was even using the tractor, but different things were hitched to it. I had to get off the path a couple times to get out of his way.
Once I got to the trees, I quickly found the ones for the kinds of apples I wanted and started to pick. Of course, I also had my camera and took some pictures, too. I’m short, and I like to duck under the lower branches and get in close to the trunk. I can get at some apples that way that I wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise, and it’s peaceful and quiet, which is nice when there are a lot of people around. There weren’t today. A taller family member was with me, and he was able to get me some of the higher ones that I couldn’t get even with this maneuver.
Once my bags were full, we took the path back up. I had brought a cloth bag with a shoulder strap to put the bags of apples in, thinking it might help my arms and back bear the weight. I think it did, a little, and my family member took one of the two bags I had, which also helped. On the way up, I noticed a cart full of pumpkins and stopped to take a picture. Then, when we got back to the barn, my family member decided he wanted some cider and donuts. When we went back into the barn, I saw a big bin divided into smaller sections, each one full of apples, so I took a picture of it while he was paying for his goodies.