Cloudy with a chance of Rain

We took our annual trip to the NC mountains yesterday. Despite going at peak leaf season, mother nature had other plans for us.

We woke up early and got off to a great start. We headed to Altapass Apple Orchard, where we planned on apple cider, and walking all over the orchard in search of the perfect apples.

We were driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway in heavy fog, but remained hopeful that the sun would burn that off, so we could see the rich fall colors. Once we got to the orchard, the girls hopped on a wagon ride around the orchard, and then the rain started. . .


As you may, Emma wants to be an apple picker when she grows up, so that was a big deal for her. We don't know why she has this dream, but being in charge of helping her make her dreams come true we took the trip to apple farm seriously. She doesn't just want to be an apple picker, but one who picks apples while doing ballet!



Her little heart was so sad. I mean you only get to pick apples once a year. So we put on our rain ponchos, rolled up our jeans, found the umbrellas and started picking. About 20 minutes of looking for apples, we realized that there weren't alot of apples to be picked (we learned later that the spring rain and wind had damaged the crop by 60%). We were very hardpressed to fill up the bag we paid for, but we finally succeeded. The girls rewarded their effort with a warm cup of cider.




We had planned to roast hotdogs and make smores at a picnic spot along the parkway, but by the time we got back in the car, the fog was so thick you only had about 50 yards of visibility. Really? We could see vibrant leaves as the wind nocked them on the windshield, but that was about as good as it was going to get. We couldn't see past the guardrail along the rode.






Lastly, we headed to Linville Falls so I could take some pictures for my photo class. We hiked about 1 mile up to the falls, in the rain and mud and got to our view point. But by the time I figured out how to take the pic, the fog had covered the falls.


Not exactly as we planned, but we made the most of it. We still. . .
had family fun
picked apples
took pictures
learned something new
and enjoyed God's beautiful creation.

Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of GOd that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 39