Saturday Heather and I went to Nebraska city.The idea was to see an orchard / pumpkin patch or at least experience some authentic fall atmosphere.
Our first stop was at the Arbor Day Farm, which consists of a place to buy food (“pie garden”) a large apple sorting system, sales area for apples and apple-biased things, Nature trails, and other Arbor Day related activities.
The apple-sorting and cider press (all somewhat historic I think) they had there were all dormant. I *think* they fire that all up during the “apple – jacks” days or whatever the festival is called. We decided to have lunch before checking out the rest of our options. Standing in line with twenty people in front of you all buying apple pie, with ice cream, or maybe just an apple slushy, made ordering a hamburger seem like a healthy choice. Eating them, they didn’t seem especially healthy, but they were pretty good burgers.
After lunch, we headed out on the nature trail they had, taking our time to enjoy thle amazingly beautiful day. The leaves were just starting to turn, so everything smelled like fall. The temperature was in the high 70s so we didnt really have a crisp day, but it made spending a long time outside really pleasant.
Before leaving we made a stop for some pie, because well, it was apple pie at the Arbor Day Farm. Pretty good pie, not as good as the pie Heather and I made, at least while it was fresh from the oven. Fresh from the oven pie is hard to beat though, so maybe that’s not a fair contest.
We left the “farm” and headed to an orchard. The orchard was running hay rack rides out from the parking lot though their pumpkin patch and actual orchard. We hopped on one of those, and had a nice, if somewhat slow ride out to see actual apples growing on trees. They also had a large vineyard, with grapes still on the vines. We had gone to the orchard with a vague plan to buy apples, but then realized we didn’t really need a huge bag of apples. In hindsight maybe we should have gotten a few just because, but we went home empty handed.
Heather and I really enjoyed the trip, and judging from the weather today, we may have caught one of the best possible days to make the trip!
-Jordan
Nelsons 