Afton Apple Orchards

Here's the deal.  You can literally visit 4 apple orchards in a few mile radius of each other in one day.  Or 20 minutes :)  As soon as I got home from work today, the hubby and I rushed off to the Afton area to stock up on apples.  Our destination was Afton Apple but we kept seeing signs for these other orchards so we visited 3 of the 4 in that area.  Literally just minutes from each other.

Afton Apple
Afton Apple is probably the most commercialized of the orchards in the area.  Right now you can pick your own apples and raspberries, kids can play at the park, they offer hay rides, and they have a corn maze.  Here's the catch, they charge admission plus whatever you pick so this one is a bit more expensive than others.  We didn't have time to pick our own produce so we just went into the barn (no admission charge for the barn) and grabbed some apple cider.  They were out of sweet tangos and honeycrisp weren't ready yet so we didn't buy any apples.  They press their own cider which is more fun than buying something that the orchard itself bought.  (Just a hint, Aamodts cider is far superior).  They also sell all kind of apple products in the barn - apple donuts, apple butter, syrup, jams, pies, crisps, etc. 

Whistling Well Farm
This apple farm is adorable.  You can pick your apples for free or buy what they have already picked.  I was extra impressed that they chill the apples they pick.  They also sell various apple products.  Unfortunately they don't press their own cider.  Thankfully they had sweet tangos so we purchased a peck of apples.

Apple Junction
They had already closed for the day but were nice enough to reopen for us.  Pretty much the same deal - stroll through the orchard, visit the apple barn.  It looks like they have an apple food truck on site as well serving up brats and other goodies.  They have all kinds of apple products here as well.  We purchased the apple brats today. 

Fischer's Croix Farm Orchard
We didn't make it here because they closed at 5, but we'll check it out at some point I'm sure.  Looks like you can pick your own apples or buy the pre-picked apples. 

I love buying apples at the orchard, but mostly I love driving through the countryside - especially at sunset.  Reminds me of my childhood.  Most the time we are heading deeper into the concrete jungle for outings, but these trips are special because they are out of town.  And perfect for appreciating the fall colors!