The Great South Bend Adventure, Part Three: How 'Bout Them Apples?

Being the great organizer and planner that she is, Colleen developed an itinerary of activities for my trip to South Bend weeks before the trip. A couple of weeks before my trip, Colleen and I were talking on the phone and she was going over the itinerary she had created. She mentioned going on a tour of Notre Dame, doing all of the Notre Dame game day activities, and going on a day trip to Chicago. These were all activities that I was expecting and looking forward to. But then she mentioned spending an entire afternoon picking apples. Yes, like picking apples off of apple trees. I was a bit perplexed as to why this type of activity made it into the itinerary, but I decided not to ask any questions. I just assumed that this is what people in the Midwest do for fun. And when in the Midwest, you do what the Midwesterners do. But I was very curious as to how this whole apple-picking experience would play out.

So on Friday afternoon, we jumped in the car and headed to an apple orchard in Michigan. Michigan, by the way, is only 8 miles from South Bend. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was thinking that there would just be a few rows of apple trees, we would pick a few apples off of the trees, and then we would head home. Oh no. This place had rows and rows of apple trees, cherry trees, peach trees, and pumpkins. Here are some pictures I took at the orchard:









And what apple orchard would be complete without...a petting zoo?! Here are some of the animals we encountered at the petting zoo:







We even had our own personal canine tour guide at the apple orchard. Our tour guide met us at the front of the orchard and led us back to the apple trees. And then he sat down and ate his snack, an apple. Imagine that! Here's our tour guide eating his apple:



Probably the best thing about the apple orchard, besides the apples of course, was all of the great photo props:

















Okay, back to the apples. Here are some pictures from my first apple-picking experience:









So, we may have gone a little overboard with the apple picking. We left with 40 pounds of apples...



How 'bout them apples?!