In honor of the first day of fall, several pictures from one of my favorite fall adventures at one of the prettiest places in our state. We have been traveling to Wilson's for apples since Mila was a plump little babe and it absolutely stirs up all the emotions every year we travel back. I will never forget that first impromptu trip at dusk one fall Friday night. It was beautiful outside, the golden hour was giving us that perfect light, and I felt like we were in the pages of a storybook. We picked apples, but mostly watched our kids eat theirs, because there is just something adorable about a little kid in their own little world munching on an apple bigger than their hand. Or in Mila's case that year, bigger than her head! I wrote this about Wilson's three years ago:
Then...
And now...
I had no idea that my unrestful spirit would lead me to one of the most simple, beautiful nights of my recent life. For just a couple hours, we had driven right into a storybook. We looked out over one of the most peaceful landscapes I had yet to see in our state, rolling green hills lined with hundreds and hundreds of apple trees. There was a steel guitar playing in the background, the smell of grilled burgers and freshly baked apple turnovers in the air, young couples walking hand in hand carrying wooden baskets full of plump Jonagolds, and little families plopped in the middle of a pumpkin patch, sharing picnic food and taking pictures. I felt the fresh fall air fill my lungs and thanked God for giving me a night to dance in a slice of this earthly heaven.
This year, we replaced the magical golden hour for a sunny Sunday afternoon. We picked sweet Song of September apples on a far row of trees at the very end of the orchard. We celebrated our loot with cider donuts and apple slushies and hot turnovers ala mode before heading home, detouring through North Liberty to love on Rob and Jill and their sweet baby, Olivia. We played at the park and had dinner at Red's, fittingly sipping on apple cider beers.
Looking back at our first visit to Wilson's, I couldn't believe how much the trees had grown. Just like the kids! But as the years go by and the kids and trees grow like weeds, I sure hope this place remains a favorite for our fall season. It's a chance to live in a storybook for an afternoon, to simply be together in a pretty place, and be still enough to watch how their faces scrunch up when they bite into an apple.
It wouldn't be an adventure without a little Cruz photography. :) Why is it that the pictures he takes are always my favorite?!
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