All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel
To celebrate my dad’s 75th birthday, my family stayed together on The Cape for a week at the end of August. It was a wonderful way to celebrate several birthdays in August while getting to all hang out together. I loved getting to spend time with my brother and sister and their families. Everyone had a blast!!
…
I know, I know… It’s a bit late in the season to post about apple picking but I couldn’t resist sharing these pictures from when we went apple picking a few weeks ago. Plus things are still great in some orchards so don’t think you’ve missed your chance just yet!!
We try to go to different orchards every year to experience something new and see which ones we like the best. Price found Cider Hill Farm in Amesbury, MA so we headed up there for a bit of apple picking.
Once you grab a bag for the apples you are ready to go! They give out a handy guide to inform you about each variety, such as what they tasted like, and where each apple is in the several orchards. As well, we were told which apples were best to harvest now and where they were in the orchards, just to help us out.
I feel that the info could be improved to help you pick which apple you would want for what use. We always go to the orchards to get apples that are great for eating and baking with since I’m not one to really make sauce. So we ended up pulling up info on our phones as we walked around the orchards. (As well, this guide is really helpful!)
Could not get over the hanging baskets. Just look how big they are compared to the pumpkins!
Rows upon rows of apples fresh for the picking!
We wandered around the long rows picking apples at the tips of our finger tips. There is just something so fun about squishing yourself in the branches and just grabbing hold of a fresh shiny apple!
Autumn is just so beautiful.
ahh bliss! These were fresh from the frier and so dang good. They were airy, flavorful, and the perfect consistency for apple cider donuts. We got a dozen because we get them 1x a year and I figured eating 6 was reasonable…
45 Fern Ave
Amesbury, MA 01913
(978) 388-5525
As a continuation to my post about the Bridge of Flowers and our May Surprise Date, I am sharing the rest of the afternoon adventure which took us zip lining through the trees in the Berkshires.
How did I pick that we would go zip lining for our May date? Well, in 3 short days we will be on a cruise heading up to Saint John, New Brunswick. And… Saint John has this pretty cool thing going in that it the rapids at the mouth of the Saint John’s River at the Bay of Fundy reverse direction. You can zip line over this bay and see this phenomena occurring. Since I figured that could scare the ever living bejesus out of us me it would be great to try zip lining before we go.
I booked a tour at Berkshire East when I saw a Gilt City coupon. Regardless of the coupon their tours are affordable ranging from $30-100, I just jumped at that since we have a budget on our surprise dates. So at the end of May, in the midst of the chaos of moving, Price and I took a Sunday to spend the day out in the Berkshires.
After getting stuck at the loooongest rail road crossing, we made it to Berkshire East to begin the adventure. I signed us up for the Mountain Top Tour which has 7 zips that range from 250′ to 800′ in length. The highest platform is 45′ in the air in the canopy and at times you zip 100′ off the ground. You get to relax before and after the zips on the ski lifts that take you up/down the mountain.
Berkshire East has a wind turbine that generates 2.2 million kWh of electricity each year, providing 100% of the power for their facility. They even have tours of it a few times a year where you learn about the 3 year process in getting it installed and its production of sustainable energy.
One of our awesome guides as he was first demonstrating how to zip, the gear set up, and the lines. After he zoomed over to the first line our tour adventure began!
Price went off backwards. I think this was the highest platform at 45′. yikes!
We took a moment to wait to see some other zip liners go across the valley on Extreme Zip 1, aka X1. This is 2300′ long zip isn’t even the longest zip in the Valley Jump Tour. I imagine this would be incredibly scary (!!) and beautiful to do in the fall.
I actually took this photo mid zip line on the last zip!
gangsta
And back down the mountain we go.
I highly recommend zip lining with Berkshire East and this tour to everyone. It was such a blast. We loved it. It was thrilling and the views were the icing on the cake. The guides were very skilled and took safety and fun very seriously. We are already discussing our next zip to see the fall foliage!
Berkshire East
66 Thunder Mtn. Road
Charlemont, MA 01339
413.339.6617
____________________
Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.
As we are now in June, I figure I better catch up with things on my to-do list and post about the fantastic April date that Price planned for us. (Quick recap: we alternate months and plan surprise dates for us to go on.) In the midst of packing for a move and buying a house we took some time for some fun together and off went went on April 15th for our special date day.
Depending on the activity we either tell each other the night before or the morning of our adventurous date. Well, Pricer waited until the last minute and told me the morning off that we were going on a whale watch!!!! He had originally planned on us going up to Gloucester and embarking from there but when he called to confirm they said the whale watches were canceled because of the weather causing rough seas. Well, crap!!! He kept calling to see what other options we had for the day and magically we were good to go for whale watches out of Plymouth, some 45 miles or so (crow flies) South from Gloucester. yay!!!
We took our tour with Capt. John’s, who provided a great whale watching experience. The ride out to the whale watching area seemed endless but it only dragged on because of the anticipation. Once we go to the area where whales feed we saw a real show from the Humpback, Minke, and Finback whales and the Atlantic white sided dolphins we saw. I learned so much about whales that day from the staff on the boat. The guides were able to identify the whales that we saw becuase of the markings on their tails, flukes.
The day was so great!! I only wish that I had remmebered to put the charged camera battery IN the camera before leaving the house. (I might have cried in the parking lot when I realized my mistake… might have…)
I suggest that when you go on a whale watching tour you:
Also check out Price’s recap of our day for some great pictures and videos as well.
You must be logged in to post a comment.