Day Two of Our 30th Anniversary - Apple Orchard and Pumpkin Patch

 

Since the apple orchard and pumpkin patch we had wanted to visit on our anniversary had both been closed, we decided to go do those two things the next day. The first stop was Carver's Apple Orchard in Cosby, Tennessee. We had seen notices online about apple orchards in this area not having Pick Your Own due to the killing frost we had in the spring, but we hoped it would still be a fun thing to go see.  They have a restaurant, so we'd planned on earing lunch there.  They do have a restaurant, a big produce market - mostly full of apple (imported ones from other areas due to not having their own crop this year), a candy store and other things we didn't check out. Being introverts, we didn't explore too much due to all the people milling about. We did get a bag of Granny Smiths and a jug of their home made apple cider and a jar of their apple butter - both of which are truly amazing.  I could drink gallons of that cider!  Then we saw a sign that their fried apple pies were sold out.  That's one of the things that I'd really wanted to get. But then we also saw that the restaurant was closed.  Sigh.  Oh well, so we decided to go have lunch at a little diner we'd passed there in Cosby that seemed to have a lot of locals in the parking lot.  That's always a good sign. 

Janice's Diner was pretty great actually. Folks came in and waved and spoke to other already there. Obviously a place that had it's fair share of regular customers. It's a very small community, so people there definitely all know each other.  The food was really good too. In fact their deep fried mushrooms were AMAZING! Oh I am really craving a big bowl of them right now! 

SO GOOD!!!

After filling our tummies and getting a huge piece of German chocolate cake to go (They have a big buffet table loaded with gorgeous cakes you can get a slice of for like $3!), we headed on to the Mosheim/Bulls Gap area via the back roads to Myers Pumpkin Patch.

I really love Myers. I wish we'd taken the kids there as they were growing up. But it was just always so hard to take 4 kids somewhere and be able to afford to do *anything* with our income.  But we did start going once they were adults. One year several of us met up there and did the hay rides etc. But we also like going, just the two of us. It's such a chill place. Open air store with loads of pumpkins and gourds, crafts, etc. They also have the most amazing apple cider, that you can get hot. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies etc.  I got the maple fudge this time, and it was so so good! 

Christopher and I started out getting cups of apple cider and just sitting down at one of the tables to people-watch. There were loads of kids there, which we learned was a girl scout troop and their families. So, we waiting for a while, and let them do their thing and get on the hayride out to the corn mazes.  We'd wait for the next one. 

Meanwhile we picked out our pumpkins. I got a big orange one, and Christopher picked an orange and white striped gourd thing. I didn't get a photo of them then, but they'll be in an upcoming post where Christopher and Zoe carved them. 

Then it was our turn to get on the hay ride. 

It went across the road and through their cow pasture, to the 24 acre corn field. They had a corn maze throughout the whole thing, with three different trails. An easy, a medium, and a hard one. The hard one takes about three hours apparently. I had originally wanted to do the corn maze, but we were worn out from the previous day's excursion (we're so out of shape LOL). We decided to just do the hayride. 

While we'd hoped to have a quiet ride, we didn't realize that on the return route from the corn maze, we'd be picking up a bunch of the kids from the previous trip. Ah well.  It was nice to hear the kids' laughter and excitement. That's the whole point, really, isn't it.  To enjoy this season, my favorite season! 

So after we stopped to pose with the pumpkins, we ordered a pizza and went to pick it up and went home to eat it and veg out in front of the TV. All in all, it was a pretty great couple of days. 

I hope y'all have had a wonderful Autumn season so far. I'll be back soon to show the carved pumpkins and talk about the great Halloween party that Rhiannon had at her home. Have a great day! 

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