The Attempted Apple Picking Trip

My friend, Heather and I, had been planning a trip to Julian to pick apples for about two months now.  We both were super excited about it!  I'm really not sure why, because if you think about it, it's kind of ridiculous to pay two times what you would pay in a store to go and pick apples yourself.  People back in the day would basically laugh in our faces if they knew. I digress. Anyways, we were so excited that we called ahead of time to make sure we were prepared. We knew what time the orchard opened and closed and all those other important details, or so we thought.  The day of, I was running super late (still getting used to packing the whole house everywhere we go to make sure Anni stays clean and happy), so we left a little over an hour later than we wanted. We figured it would be no big deal, because we would still have plenty of apple picking hours left in the day.  After an hour of windy roads on our way to Julian where the orchard was, we were all starving, so we ate outside the orchard and fed the little ones. Then we started to venture to the orchard, where a lady promptly told us we could not enter, because they had just closed.  Now we were very upset to say the least, because it was only three o' clock and we were told 4:30 PM over the phone.  However, after pleading with the orchard worker, she allowed us to walk around the orchard until everyone left.  What a kind soul.  Unfortunately, we were unable to pick any apples, but Anniston was perfectly happy just staring at the trees (which are her absolute favorite by the way).  Gabe ate a few apples off of the ground and Heather's dad, Butch, managed to sneak in and pick enough to fill up a bag for all of us. All in all, even though we weren't able to actually pick the apples, it was a fun experience and it was nice to go up to the mountains to see all of the beautiful trees.  It reminded Gabe and I of Boise, which was nice, because I have been having some serious Boise withdrawals lately.  The moral of this story is, if you want to go apple picking, get your butts up there super early so A; All the good apples aren't gone and B; You don't get locked out of the orchard.   Oh well, better luck next year, right? I'm sure the little ones will enjoy it more when they can walk anyway.