A few weeks ago I wrote an article about some fun things to do in fall. Naturally, I had to experience some of those activities again or for the first time. On Saturday, my family and I took a trip to an apple orchard to go apple picking.
We picked the worst day to go. The entire car ride there it was pouring down rain. When we got to the orchard we were surprised to see that the parking lot was packed and the gift shop was full of other families. I looked around the gift shop with my dad while my mom and sisters waited in the outside line for the bathroom and got soaked with rain.
We got back in the car and drove down a hill to the second gravel parking lot where we avoided puddles on our way to the metal covering that housed the apple picking registration. We opted for a bag that holds ½ a peck of apples and waited for the next tractor to pick us up and take us to the orchard.
The tractor had a trailer attached to the back with a wooden bench going around three sides and a metal back wall that dropped down to become a slippery ramp. There was no covering over the trailer and the seats were completely covered in water. My family was the only group on the tractor ride to the orchard, but when we got there we saw more people picking apples.
We got off the tractor-trailer and began our search for the best apples. The orchard was divided by rows of trees and each row had a sign with what type of apple grew in that row. We walked down a muddy slope to get to the first row. After almost falling multiple times, we had managed to get through a few rows of different types of apple trees and fill up the bag about halfway.
We hadn’t gotten to the red apple trees we had first seen when the tractor dropped us off and we couldn’t figure out how to get to them until my sister found a gravel path that led to that row.
All of us were picking red apples off the trees in the rain and yelling out when we found a good one so we could put it in the bag. My sister and I were taking pictures of each other drenched and eating apples when our other sister slipped in mud (she was fine but her crocs were gross).
When we filled up our bag we went back up to where the tractor had dropped us off and waited with some other families for the next one to arrive. We rode back to the metal covering and my dad and I drove back up to the gift shop lot while my mom and sisters went back to the bathroom to clean off their shoes. My youngest sister rinsed her crocs off in the sink but the second she walked back outside they were pretty dirty again.
We were all freezing and wet in the car. We ended up having to stop at a Walmart to buy dry clothes (including underwear) and we changed in the Walmart bathroom. The rain had let up when we were walking inside the building but it was raining harder when we left to go back to the car. Our clothes were slightly damp but definitely more comfortable than the dripping wet outfits from before.
We had lots of fun and laughed a lot while on this trip. We also got some pretty tasty apples and new outfits. It was a great bonding experience and I enjoyed it for the most part, but I don’t think I’ll ever do it again. I’d definitely go again if it were sunny and dry, and I’m sure my pictures would look better in that weather too.
Overall, I’m glad my family took this trip, but I wouldn’t recommend going apple picking in the rain. Check the local forecasts and try to plan your trip for a sunny day. Apple picking is definitely not a rainy day activity!