So we were told by some of my fellow co-workers that the months of September and October are the beautiful (and busy) months in Connecticut. Country Fairs, apple picking, leaves falling and corn mazes are all in abundance during these months. We decided to be proactive and hit up the apple picking early on in the season; we didn’t want to miss out on our first attempt and grabbing the best apples in the orchard.
Less than 5 miles from the house is Blue Jay Orchards, one of the apple-picking destinations in our part of CT. We got there early, bought our $20 bag (pick as many as you can fit) and made a bee-line straight for the trees. There were a couple acres of apple-tree rows in our picking section containing McIntosh, Cortland and Summer Wonder Fugi apples.
We found there was a proper technique to picking apples, not just the grab-and-yank method I was expecting. Correctly done, there should be a bit of stem left and the only apple to come off the tree is the one you grab, not the 7 or 8 that drop when you use the ‘tear-it-from-the tree’ method. We piled our bag high with roughly 10-12 of each type and made our way back to the car. I also grabbed a pic of the low-flying geese that decided to do a bombing run when we were out there. Thankfully we weren’t hit; not sure I can say the same thing for everyone else out there.
Across the street from the orchard was the Blue Jay Orchards Farmers Market store and gift shop, which actually looked like it might have been a cool barn at one time. You could buy all kinds of apple-infused product; apple butter, apple sauce, apple pies, etc. But that’s not all. Love blueberries? They had blueberry jams, jellies and pie. Pumpkin? Same deal. We picked up a couple additional items (including apple butter and blackberry preserves) and hastily left before spending an enormous amount of money. It would easily be possible.
On our way out of the orchard we decided to do a little adventuring, so we took a left out of the orchard (our house is to the right) and decided to just pick a road to drive down. We soon found ourselves winding around Saugatuck Reservoir, a monstrous lake that was something out of a travel guide. Since it was a gorgeous day (the sun was out, it was cool and the views were breath-taking), there were quite a few groups of bikers pedaling around the lake. This made it difficult at times to pass, especially since there were no straight lengths of road and it was very narrow. We did manage our way around as well as get some good pictures in, but they really hold nothing to actually seeing the lake.
Our final stop was the Sycamore Drive-In, a tiny burger joint that is known for having some crazy-good burgers as well as occasional nostalgic car gatherings. Yummy food, good service. What a way to end the day!
