A Saturday Day Trip to the Mountains

 This past weekend, we had every intention of spending three days in Kiawah soaking up the sunshine, fresh air, and biking all around the island for the last time before I got too pregnant to properly balance on a bike. But, thanks to a potential exposure to COVID (thankfully, we tested negative) we ended up cancelling our weekend in Kiawah and trading it in for a day in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Let’s rewind: back in 2017, Patrick and I celebrated our 1^st anniversary with a trip up to North Carolina where we popped into a few of our favorite breweries before meeting up with his family just outside of Hendersonville for a family wedding. We stayed at a family friend’s beautiful cabin and on Saturday morning, Patrick and I had to drive down the mountain to the grocery store to pick up a few essential items. It was early August—but to us, it felt like peak fall season with the cool, crisp air. We rode the whole way with the windows down and enjoyed the delicious scent of fresh apples in the air from all of the apple picking orchards that we passed. I made a mental note that one day… I would be back for apple picking. 

Fast-forward three years and we finally made our apple picking trip!

 

We loaded up bright and early and arrived at Granddad’s Apples at 9:30am and y’all, we were late. Not too late, but we were late. The orchard opened up at 8am and by the time we arrived, it was quite crowded.

 

We skipped over the “pumpkin patch” (which was just a few rows of pumpkins stacked on top of one another) and headed for the apple trees. We’ve never picked apples before so we opted for the small $11 bag and off we went.

 

It took Riley all of two seconds to understand what we were doing and then she was all about helping us pick apples! She loved when Patrick would scoop her up, hold her high up in the tree, and keep her up there until she got the apple off the tree. Once picked, she wanted that apple to go immediately in the bag. 

It didn’t take us too long to fill up the bag and we headed out shortly after. There were a lot of other activities—a playground, an apple cannon, more trees and varieties of apples to explore, a delicious smelling bakery—but at this point it had gotten really crowded and we decided it was best to leave.

 

I was still determined to find us a pumpkin patch and I remembered seeing a sign just off the interstate about a Linda’s Pumpkin Patch at Linda's Plants and Shrubs that was just 4 miles up the road in the same direction we had already traveled 2 miles in. We stumbled across it a few minutes later and after inquiring inside about picking pumpkins, we headed out into their patch.

 

I’ve never been to a patch like this.

All of the pumpkin patches that I have been to have been weeded, cleared out, and it was always easy to find a pumpkin to pick. This one? This one was overgrown, full of beautiful sunflowers, and you had to dig around to find a pumpkin. It was better than I could have planned.

 

Riley and I let Patrick do the traipsing through the patch. Mainly because it was on a hillside and I didn’t want to misstep while carrying Riley but also because I was pretty sure I was going to come across a snake in there and that would not have ended well for anyone. We found three great pumpkins and at $22 total, it was a cheap trip to the pumpkin patch!

 

As soon as we got back into the car, Patrick and I were already planning next year’s trip to Hendersonville. We had such a good time getting outside and doing something new with Riley. The apples we picked were so good! The pumpkin patch was unique and fun. We were reminded that as much as we adore the beach, we kind of like being up in the mountains, too. I’m ready for a three day weekend in the mountains where we can hit the apple orchards on a less-busy day and invite along both sets of grandparents for the adventure. By then, Baby Girl #2 will have also arrived and both grandparents have already volunteered to watch the little ones while Patrick and I sneak off to enjoy a winery or two.

 

Is it fall 2021 yet? I’m already counting down the days until we can bring this trip to life!