Fall may be a season known mostly for the turning of the leaves, but let’s not forget that it’s also the best time to go apple picking in NY! All you need is a car, some friends and/or significant other and a day to venture out to one of the plenty apple orchards surrounding the NYC area.
My friends and I hit the road one Saturday morning for a fun excursion to upstate NY. WE drove up the freeway, lined with beautiful fall foliage, until we got to our destination, Mead Orchards, to get our apple fix.
The orchard hit every checkbox for being as cute as you would imagine it to be.
The staff gave us bags to fill with any apples that we picked. You can pay by the pound or a flat price for a full bag of apples. Once we were inside, our quest for the sweetest and crispiest apples began!
There were so many different types of apples available. Many of them we had never even heard of. Some grew on very large trees, others grew in bunches like bananas. Some were green, some were red, some were multicolored. It was hard to choose… and pretty much a guess if these apples would taste as good as they looked.
Thanks to our trusty taste tester, we found the best ones: the crimson and wine crisps!
We had so much fun grooming through and creating our own collection of apples.
Though, there were many casualties in the process…
JK. These were already there, relax. I’m sure there’s a special place for these bad apples. Back at the front of the orchard, there are… (you guessed it) more apples AND other organic fruit available to purchase. I snagged two bottles of fresh apple cider to make mulled cider for an upcoming potluck, which turned out amazing btw. Fresh ingredients really do make all the difference!
Afterwards, we stopped by Hudson for lunch at a classic diner. It was the true epitome of farm-to-table food with everything you could have wanted in a simple burger.
The town was super quaint. The main street is filled with cool antique stores where you can gush over vintage finds and cry over their price tags. Once we were feeling super poor, we headed out to Tuthilltown Spirits for some whiskey tasting.
Of course, this place just looked like a picturesque scene out of a brochure.
So there you have it. We had a super fun (and gramworthy) trip! Not to mention, it gave us an opportunity to escape from the NY hustle and bustle for a bit and enjoy some nature. Let us know if you have any favorite apple orchards and know other fun activities around the area!