Fall 2008

Adam and I kicked the fall off by visiting Carter Mountain Orchard, just outside of Charlottesville. It was a beautiful day and the views overlooking Charlottesville were amazing. On just the other side of the mountain from the orchard is Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home.

Does Adam look exciting to pick apples or what?

Yum! These are the apples we came away with. They were delicious! I honestly couldn't believe how much better they tasted than store bought apples. The other highlight of the orchard for me were the cider doughnuts they sold. They reminded me of the doughnuts I used to get as a kid at the Auburn Fair. So good! It made me wish I could sit at Grandma Rufner's kitchen table and share one with her just one last time! Adam and I definitely want to make apple-picking at the Carter Mountain Orchard a fall tradition. It will be fun to take our kids there someday.

After hiking the mountainside to pick our apples, Adam and I decided to eat at Michie Tavern (pronounced Mickey). Located at the base of Carter Mountain and a short distance from the entrance to Monticello, Michie Tavern (ca. 1784) is a well-known historic site.

Adam displays the classic southern fare we dined on...cornbread, bisquits, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, pulled barbeque pork, green beans, black-eyed peas (which he tried for the first time and did not like...neither do I). We both stayed away from the stewed tomatoes...yuck! Because it is all-you-can-eat, Adam went back for seconds. By the time our waiter asked us if we wanted fresh peach cobbler, we were both so full we had to decline.

Later on in October Adam and I invited our small group from church over to carve pumpkins. I hadn't carved a pumpkin in years. It was fun and our pumpkin looked great!

(Adam took the picture above, sorry for the bluriness!)

Adam pulling the "guts" out of our pumpkin. I was happy to let him do that part.

Our pumpkin!

Can you tell we chose the easiest design? The pumpkin on the left is an owl and the one on the right is a spider and its web. Next year maybe we'll try something a little trickier!