Arizona Could Use a Johnny Appleseed

I’m a bad vacationer.  Or, rather, a bad returning home from vacationer.  We’ve been home all of five days and already I’m itching to start planning our next Walt Disney World vacation. 

I know.  I have issues.

Seeing as how it’s a tad early to start planning the details of our next trip (even for a compulsive planner like myself) I’ve begun planning a different trip.  I’ve decided to head up to the White Mountains of Arizona come the New Year.  And after the nonstop entertainment and fun that we had at Walt Disney World, our upcoming mountain retreat should be a real respite.

It’s not that I’m lazy and I don’t like the work I have to do to keep our house running.

Well, maybe it is that.  But I swear there’s more to it than that.

I’m a family kind of gal.  I love being surrounded by my peeps.  And coming off of that two week extended family time has been tough on me.

I even planned a little outing this past weekend to carry on that vacation mentality as long as I possibly could.  We set off on Saturday morning for a short drive down to the booming desert town of Willcox, Arizona.  Typically Willcox wouldn’t be high on my list of Arizona tourist stops, but it is  the home of the closest (if not the only) U-pick farm in Southern Arizona.  We’ve gone in the past to pick peaches but this was the first time we’ve ventured yonder to try our hand at gathering bushels of apples. 

It may just have been the last time too.

Cassie, my little lover of picnics, suggested we bring lunch along for our little day trip.  And, wanting to stretch out that family time as much as I could, I kindly obliged.  I even made a fresh broccoli salad (totally delicious by the way) and a batch of the most amazing iced pumpkin cookies you will ever try (recipe coming soon).  We loaded up our stuff and sixty minutes later there we were in Willcox, searching for a park (any park would do really) in which to spread our blanket and dig in. 

Apparently it was our lucky day because the one and only park that we could find was hosting a carnival of sorts.  And believe me when I tell you that each and every car in Willcox (except the ones on blocks in the front yards) was lined up on the main drag trying to get in to the parking lot. 

Oh and the wind.  The wind was something nasty down there this weekend.  Remember the haboob?  This wind was no haboob, but the remnants of those swirling dust funnels didn’t add much taste to our turkey sandwiches.  That is, of course, for those of us who actually got the chance to eat them before the wind up and carried them off into the wild blue yonder.

Being the brave desert dweller I am though we put that dusty picnic failure behind us and set out in search of better things.  Apples to be precise.

The kids were all decked out in their long apple picking pants.  We set out to the orchard with our apple pole and buckets firmly in hand.  And even when we saw other apple pickers heading back in with nary an apple in hand we weren’t deterred. 

We inspected the first row of trees: empty. 

The second row: fruitless.

The third row: completely barren.

And so it went.  Row after row we went searching high and wide for even a single Granny Smith that we could harvest.  It wasn’t to be though.

Um, where are the apples people?

Apparently the first weekend in October is too late in the game to go apple pickin’.

At least if you’re a desert dweller.

My friend Beth over at Total Mom Haircut had much better luck up in Pennsylvania.

It’s cool though.

I’ve been wanting to check out the Farmer’s Market for a long time anyway.

You’ll know where to find me come Saturday morning.