One of my good friends from college is the daughter of a local television meteorologist. When I told her that we were moving to Baltimore she let me know that according to her father, the mid-Atlantic has the nicest and most hospitable climate. When we moved here in mid-July I thought that she must have been joking, because for what seemed like 2 months straight, temperatures did not dip under 95 degrees.
Fall has finally made it to Baltimore and I am officially an embarrassment to my upstate New York upbringing; this morning I had to wear a sweater and down vest to take Penny out for her morning walk - it was 50 degrees. I am freezing.
The change in seasons does have it’s perks. It’s the greatest time of year! The leaves are (slowly) changing, the air is crisp, boots are back in style and there are apples and gourds and cider and pumpkin spice things. It’s cool enough to run (if you do that sort of thing) and there is still enough daylight after work to get in some nice walks.
One of my favorite fall-time things is apple picking. I was really nervous when we moved down below the Mason-Dixon line about the quality of pick your own apples. You have to remember the upstate New York roots and my recent stint in Michigan (where they are convinced they invented apples) make me an apple picking snob. So this past weekend, Jeff and I decided to get out an explore more of the mid-Atlantic, with apple picking as the day’s highlighted agenda item.
We spent the day in Gettysburg! Only about 60 miles northwest of Baltimore is the small borough of Gettysburg, PA. The town is well known for it’s role in the Civil War, and it takes the responsibility of keeping history alive quite seriously. The battleground (or the Gettysburg National Military Park) is basically the entire town, and they have a self-guided auto tour you can take to visit the landmarks of the largest and bloodiest battle on US soil.
Just outside of Gettysburg is beautiful Pennsylvania farm country, and rolling hills of apple orchards and vineyards. We visited an orchard just outside of town and were very impressed with the quality of the pick your own experience. One benefit of apple picking outside of a state well-known for apple picking, is you don’t have to worry about over-picked trees! I have never seen so many apples on trees, ready for the picking, before! We could have filled our bags in about 5 minutes if we tried. We got a nice variety of apples (some varieties I have never heard of) and will not be too sore about the absence of the Empires. One notable disappointment was the lack of cider doughnuts, but I will excuse this on the grounds that I am writing on a fitness blog and should pretend I don’t eat doughnuts.
We enjoyed a lovely Sunday in the Pennsylvania countryside, and now I will be baking (healthy) apple treats for weeks!
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