We've Got High Apple Pie in the Sky...

Paul and I went to visit his parents last Saturday. It was such a beautiful day that we had to spend part of it outside. Originally we had planned on taking the canoes out, but Paul had been suffering from a cold all week and still wasn't feeling up to speed. Keeping it low key, we decided to go apple picking!
While looking online, I found an orchard not too far away from the house that offered u-pick apples and also a farm market store complete with cider and most importantly, cider donuts!
We visited at his parents house for a while before setting off to the orchard. Once there, we got oriented with how things worked and headed out to the trees. They were picking Ginger Gold and Macintosh apples. We walked to the GG's first, as they were further out. The trees were loaded with apples and it didn't take long to fill our half-bushel bag half-way. From there, we went toward the Macs and with the 4 of us picking, we were done quickly. The apples were good size and in good condition. We headed back to the store to get some cider and donuts and then made our way back to the house for lunch and more visiting.
We decided to weigh our apples to see how many pounds we wound up with. The grand total was 23 pounds of apples! We split them between us and I was thinking to myself, "What are we going to do with about 12 pounds of apples?!" What else would you do with apples? Make a pie of course! ; )
I made a crumb topping apple pie and I have to admit it turned out quite tasty. Paul has been taking an apple in his lunch everyday and I have an apple cake recipe that I want to try next. Then, I may make applesauce with the rest. We'll see. I have to use these up though so I can go to our local orchard when Honeycrisps are ripe. They are my all time favorite eating apple. I just love fall! : )