Apple Annie

Last Saturday we took a half-day trip to little ol' Willcox, a small town an hour and a half northeast of us. We'd been planning this little outing for more than a month, waiting for the weather to cool down, all for a visit to Apple Annie's Pumpkin Patch and Orchard. We left bright and early at 7:30 a.m. and got there just as they were opening. We went first to the pumpkin patch, where they have something along the lines of a country store, a bunch of fresh produce, a corn maze, a hay ride, and of course, a pumpkin patch. We rode out to the patch on a tractor-drawn, hay-filled trailor and got to pick our own pumpkins right off the vines. Some teenage worker dudes hacked them off right then and there. Then we walked over to try out the corn maze. We opted for the "baby maze", which only took 10 or 15 minutes to complete, verses dragging our kids through the two-hour ones. It was perfect for us and they had a good time in there. Then we headed for the store to pay for our pumpkins and some home made toasted almond syrup that we couldn't resist buying.

Then we were off to the apple orchard, a 15 or so minute drive. There, they let you grab a bucket and pick your produce right off the trees, be it apples or peaches. We opted to pass on that, but looked around the gift shop instead. Then we grabbed lunch: apple burgers, baked beans, chips, and soda. It was a fabulous lunch, the beans in particular. To top it off, we got some home made apple crumb ice cream. It was DELICIOUS! In Danny's words, "This is a very pleasant ice cream experience." He ranks it #2 in his ice cream experience rankings (#1 is the huckleberry ice cream from Reed's Dairy in Idaho Falls). After finishing lunch we loaded up and headed home. We were home by 1:30 p.m. and all took naps after our big, exciting day.

I feel the sign says it all, and therefore, I can forego a caption on this picture.






The sprawling landscape of Apple Annie's Pumkin Patch.

The fam.

Dallin and Emily loved all the pumpkins. Emily especially loved the tiny ones. Dallin's favorite thing of the whole day, however, was collecting rocks everywhere we went.

On the hay ride going to the pumpkin patch.

Danny scoping out the the vines for the small pumpkins, with vine cutters and all.

Emily's pumpkin.

Dallin's pumpkin.

We bought some honey sticks at the little country store. They had a varitey of flavors, from mint to peach to cinnamon to English toffee and more.

Needless to say, Emily loved it.

And Dallin too.

Again, I'll forego a caption.

Here's the insanely difficult corn maze. Who are these people? Can you see why we went for the 15-minute baby maze? Heck yes!

Entering the corn maze.

In the maze.

Throughout the maze, we let Emily decide which way we'd go.

Exiting the maze.

At the apple orchard for lunch. Over lunch Danny goes, "This place does with apples what Bubba does with shrimp." I laughed and we proceeded to name all the things we'd seen done with apples that day: apple burgers, apple ice cream, apple butter, apple syrup, apple cake, apple honey, apple crisp, apple pie, apple spices, apple scones, apple candles, apple potpourri - and the list goes on, I'm sure.

The beans Danny is still talking about. With pride, he keeps counting the chunks of meat he scored after fishing them out of the big pot. Thanks, Apple Annie (whoever you are), for a fun day, good food, and lasting memories!