New England Fall Leaves and Apple Picking..

This weekend was a lot of fun - I didn't sleep much so I was getting pretty warn out by the time Sunday came around. I think the problem was that I was truly rushing around from place to place, not sleeping, and some plans were largely out of control or completely unplanned. I'm all for spontaneity to some extent - but you need to be smart about things and think before you make these plans. I would have changed a few things, but all in all it was a great weekend to see friends and to enjoy the Fall leaves. The pictures from the drive didn't turn out very well so I am going to go out and take some pictures of Cambridge and the Charles because they are all absolutely breathtaking right now.

Friday night was a combination of awesomeness:

7 Brides for 7 Brothers with Holly, Jorge, Michael, Traviston, and Liz - I still love that movie. I had to leave early because I was meeting with other friends, but it just makes me so darn happy and the songs are ridiculously great!

and then...

The Red Sox game with friends down in the North End. Visiting with friends from out of town and watching the game - definitely a great idea - props to Becca on that one.

After an early morning on Saturday we went out to Honey Pot Hill Farms in Stow and picked apples. We got a bunch of different kinds and because Ammon is 6'6" he got the really good ones at the top of the trees that hadn't been picked over. We stopped for fresh apple cider and cider donuts at the end (which were AMAZING). Admittedly we did get distracted by the New England Fall leaves on multiple occassions and I was very pleasantly surprised to find one pear tree in the orchard as well. Carolyn got me hooked on fresh pears in Provo so I was super excited to take a bite - more than is normal, I'm sure.

We then set off to drive through Western Mass to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage. I'm sad the pictures from the drive really didn't turn out well. I was driving and in turn not manning the camera, but the drive itself was unreal. It didn't seem natural to have that many colors lining the road and going all through the forest - straight out of a painter's notebook.

After the apple picking and the long drive - I headed into town to Copley Square to see the politicos and Ryan and Matt who were in town. The original plan was to bowl, but instead we grabbed dinner and talked the entire time while watching Game 2 of the ALCS (which ended poorly and late for the Red Sox).

Sunday morning was an early trip down to Providence. I'm pretty sure I was socially awkward at that early hour, but I did stop by Taunton, MA on the way back. Looking through our New England Family History - our ancestors were early settlers in Taunton (it's down closer to the Rhode Island border and the cape) - I'm still trying to figure out when these ancestors came specifically. To be perfectly honest - there's not a whole lot in Taunton so with the exception of a few pictures I didn't really stop to see much and it was still early on a Sunday morning. It was beautiful with the Fall colors and seems to have a lot of churches and retirement condos now. That's saying a lot for a small town in Mass.

Sunday night we made apple pies with the apples we picked - not a bad end to the week. No pictures and I was getting very tired during the process. We made double crusted and crumb pies with all different kinds of apples - which is great. At some point I want to have an apple pie party of some kind - invite lots of friends over after making pies with all different kinds of apples to figure out which apple I like to bake with best. I know what I like now, but I've only tried a couple. I know, I know - I'm really weird... maybe I'll do that at Thanksgiving time or something.