It's that time of year when we start to think about all the things we have to be thankful for. We should be grateful the whole year, but it is nice to take a step back and really think about how blessed we all are. With all the craziness going on in the world lately, it really makes me (and probably many of us) thankful to be alive and safe.
On a lighter note, this week I'm especially thankful (and giddy) to be celebrating 9 years of dating Zack. And not just that, but a also one year of being engaged. I can't believe it's already been a year! I got a little reminiscent when looking at time hop this week, so I had to go back and read my post all about the engagement. Did you miss the story? Check it out here!
Anyway, I think if I tried, I could write pages and pages of things to be thankful for, but today I'm thankful for travel, and all the opportunities I've had to explore this beautiful world of ours. And with that, I wanted to share a little weekend excursion from a few weeks ago.
It was a Friday afternoon when Zack and I, along with our roommate Alex, made a last minute decision to head to the mountains and do a little apple picking that Saturday. Zack and I used to go apple picking every fall in the NC mountains with his family, so this was right up our alley, so Saturday morning we woke up and made our way to Oak Glen, CA.
Oak Glen is a tiny town that has orchard after orchard. Apples, pumpkins, berries, and more. Unfortunately, the apples were few. Most of the apple trees had been thoroughly picked over (we later learned that because of the severe drought, the apple yield was pretty low this season). We went to three different U-Pick orchards and came home with 4 apples. You win some, you lose some.
But the day wasn't over and there was success to come. We headed down the road to Snow-line orchard to have our picnic, and I've got to say, it was a picnic fit for a king. Fried chicken, crackers & brie, mozzarella & pepperoni, chips & guac, cornbread, pasta salad, potato salad, watermelon, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, and wine. I mean....yum.
Now, Snow-line orchard was also a winery. With free tastings. See, told you it got better. We got to sample some cider beer as well as green apple wine (which I definitely bought a bottle of). Not only that, but the Snow-line store also had samples of several different flavors of cold apple cider along with slices of various types of apples harvested from the orchard. And last but not least, we ordered the most delicious apple cider donuts. Served hot and covered in cinnamon sugar. Well worth waiting in the long line for (even when it started raining). By the time we got our donuts, the rain had passed and we even had time to wander through a corn maze.
For a spontaneous day trip, it was pretty successful. A few hiccups here and there, but that's what's so fun about traveling somewhere new. You don't always know what to expect, and things might not always go according to plan, but there's always fun to be found, even if it's just with the people around you.
XO – Courtney
