Apples, Apples, and More Apples!

Well, I had another great weekend with the Hobsons. We went to church on Saturday afternoon and then had dinner with some friends of theirs — a very pleasant evening. Then on Sunday we headed out to Apple Hill® (see more below). On Monday, Colin was headed down to the Bay Area for business, so I was able to get a lift back to Davis with him at a slightly more reasonable time than my usual 5:15am start to the week!

Getting back to the apples: Apple Hill® is a group of farms out to the East of Sacramento who have formed a tourist trap of note! There are about 50 farms (mostly apple farms, unsurprisingly) in the area who have organised various activities, events, etc. The drive out was very scenic as one starts to climb up into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range (it's on the way up to Tahoe). We started off at High Hill Farm, which is one of the main spots. They had some delicious apple donuts we had been recommended to try, and various craft stalls (somewhat reminiscent of the Village Green at the Grahamstown Festival, although on a smaller scale), lots of fruit and apple products (juice, pies, the afore-mentioned donuts, etc.) for sale, a trout pond, etc., etc. All of this was set among a forest of beautiful pine trees. Right next to High Hill is the Fudge Factory Farm. No prizes for guessing what was on sale there, or that it was a great hit with the younger generation and a certain African tourist somewhat known for his sweet tooth! There was also a group fund-raising for a wolf shelter who had a wolf on display — a magnificent creature.

After browsing around there we moved along to El Dorado Orchards where we spent a fair amount of money on the crafts between us. Erin and a friend of hers who was with us for the day made candles at a stall there. There was a lot of fruit on sale there, and in hindsight we should have bought some apples there (yes, we did go to Apple Hill and come back without any apples!).

From El Dorado we moved along to the Jack Russell Farm Brewery where we had a late lunch (but, again, did not sample the speciality of the farm!). At all the farms we were struck by the number of people who had brought their dogs, and we did see a JR here (not the one the farm is named after, who is apparently 17 now and does not make too many public appearances). Lunch consisted of some delicious burgers.

Our final stop for the day was at Honey Bear Ranch, where we enjoyed some fudge or baked goods for desert (I had an delicious apple-berry crunch — like an apple crumble, but with berries mixed in with the apples). That place had a water wheel spinning lazily in a small pond area and the obligatory craft stalls.

All in all it was a very pleasant day-out, enjoying the warm autumn/fall weather.