Out for a Sunday drive

Today we headed out on one of our favorite fall trips - a ride out to the Hidden Hills of Western Mass. Our main destination was Jameson's High Meadow Farm in Chester for apple picking. It's tucked away down the road from the main farmhouse, and you have to stop at the farmhouse first to pick up and pay for a bag. Yes, we learned this the hard way last year. The best part of this farm is the implement you use for picking the apples. They've fashioned these pickers using something that looks like the cage on a lacrosse stick. You use the wire "fingers" on the cage to pull the apple into the cage. Brilliant!!

As we got close to the farm, it started to rain. Of course it did. We lucked out, though. We caught a break in the clouds and we were the only ones at the orchard. The sun actually came out and it got quite warm. A little too warm for our liking, actually. We prefer it a bit cooler so it feels like fall, but at least it stopped raining. Matthew had a blast - he loved trying to get the apples in his mouth. Check out the slideshow in the right sidebar for some pictures - there are too many to include in this post.

We also like out to check out the foliage at the Knightville Dam. We usually get there when it's way past peak, and this year, we were actually just a bit too early. So no photos. Good thing because the battery in the camera croaked as we were leaving the orchard.

We then made a stop at our favorite place, Huntington Country Store. It's such a fun place - lots of different rooms filled with all kinds of goodies. There's one room that's just full of kitchen gadgets - mushroom brushes, corn silk removers, nutmeg graters, etc. The best part of the store is the bakery. They make so many wonderful things, and we always buy a nice assortment to devour on the ride home. Today, we bought a pepperoni pizza bread (yum!!) which we ate for lunch, and my absolute favorite - a Wrapple® - their trademarked apple confection. (Personally, I prefer to call it a Rappalie!) Check out the slideshow for a picture!

Despite the rain, it turned out to be a fabulous day. We saw some great foliage (everywhere but the dam), traveled down some beautiful country roads, followed the East branch of the Westfield River, and found some lovely spots we'd love to build a house. One of these days....