Fall, Friends, and Fruit

The title pretty much sums up my weekend. The idea of going to Heirloom Apple Days, in Hood River on the Fruit Loop, began last year after I went for the first time. I decided then that it needed to be an annual tradition. Looking back I can't believe it has been a whole year! My how things have changed in that year.

I met up with the fabulous Mrs. Tweet. Awww how I miss my friends! Just so you all know! We had a lovely walk around the mall before she got her hair done, and she looks FAB!


My mom and aunt drove with me from Ptown through the extremely windy Gorge, where we met up with friends in HR for some breakfast at Bette's Place. Good food and worth the wait, although to be honest I have to give Y credit for calling ahead and getting a table for our large group.

From breakfast we set out on or trip around the loop. We got off to a rocky start, while I may have said one farm # to one group of cars, the rest of us went to another farm... oops! I am so sorry for that! That is ok though because once we met up at the Lavender farm M gave me a nice push and I went to the ground with a thud! Ok, so maybe he didn't push me, maybe I kinda just tripped over my own feet... hehe :)

Two farms down we had oh so many to go. Talk about a beautiful day.. or as the joke between my mom and aunt "it was gorgeous in the Gorge". Yeah it got old after the first 10 times. lol



And the food... oh there was FOOD! All I can say is it is a good thing I ate prior to heading out or I would have gorged on far too many sweets. We shared fried dough w/ fresh apple butter, pear dumplings w/ vanilla ice cream, jams, jellies, you name it. I had told my mom about Packer's, they have a HUGE selection of very large cookies. They were nearly the last stop on the list so after each stop she would ask, are we going to the cookie place now? It was with much happiness that we got to Packer's after 5 previous stops. We sampled cookies, cookies, and more cookies. They also have a great selection of pies, fruit, and Ryan's cider.

Our last stop had us at Cody Orchards. They had a great variety and prices on their pears and apples. I loaded up! My overall haul included cookies, wildflower honey, honey crisp/hanner's/jonagold apples, and a handful of pears. I am planning on trying a pear bread, maybe some pear & apple butter, and of course applesauce. Actually I have the first batch of applesauce done already, and is it TASTY! A little whip cream or ice cream with the hot applesauce is so yummy!

I want to thank my friends and fam for joining us. It was a thrill to see you all. Just wish more of you could have made it.


I also have to make mention of the lovely Yvonne for knitting Miss Maggie's sweater. It is soooo cute! Thank you Yvonne, you are quite talented! Go visit her here: http://lavendersheep.com




Peace out all! <3 Me! :)