I sure do have a nice husband.
After I mentioned that I'd really like to make a trip out to Hood River, OR to enjoy the autumn bounty, he said, "Ok...let's make it happen." And today everything lined up for us to go: beautiful fall weather, early release for the kids, and an unscheduled afternoon.
We loaded in the car for a wonderful, whirl-wind trip up the gorge!
We visited Rasmussen Farms, where we ventured through the fairy tale corn maze, pumpkin bowled, smiled over all the 'people' in pumpkin land, and bought some lovely red pears.
Then we continued on to Cody Orchard's Farm Stand. We played a little more, and the kids were treated to a free apple each from the very kind woman who worked there. (Oh...and we added some honey crisp apples to our pears to take home!)
(Emily took this photo, which is why she is missing. Too bad it wasn't a whole family shot!)
From there it was down the road to Packer Orchards & Cookie Stop Bakery. Again, the ladies there were so kind, and there were delicious samples of apples, pears, and cookies - yum! Ben picked his favorite fruit to add to our growing stock, and of course we couldn't leave without a couple small sweet treats, too!
Let's see...then it was Draper Girl's for a quart of apple cider, and on to Kiyokawa's Family Orchards for a little more play - and just a few more apples! (Fuji this time)
Our last stop of the day was sampling some delicious jams and jellies from the Apple Valley Country Store, where we couldn't help but bring home just one jar of peach pepper jelly :) Then it was one last romp on the tire swing outside...
...before we headed home with our yummy treats and the beautiful scenery fresh in our minds.
What a fine, fine autumn day.
