11/14/2009: apple hill (camino), ca 13K event

we did this event last year and had so much fun. this year, we musta set off later coz we didn't sign in till 11:15, or so. the sign at the check-in said we had to be finished by 3pm. we didn't want to risk NOT getting back by 3pm and possibly not getting our stamp on the book. so we were in a time-crunch this time...

even though the walk goes through/by apple orchards, bake shops, christmas tree farms, a few wineries, it was still by and large just walking ON a 2-lane road. no sidewalk anywhere. it got pretty annoying when drivers would be going waay too fast and there we were, just exposed. anyway, we had fun. we stopped and had some kinda baked apple goodness at 3 places. the best one was the apple strudel from the first place. it had just come out of the oven so it was nice and hot. we had a dutch crunch apple pie at the 2nd place. and old-fashioned and buttermilk apple pie AND an apple donut at the last one. i forgot that i had a camera at the first 2 places, so i only had pics of the last 2 pies.

i'd never had buttermilk apple pie and now i'd like to make one for turkey day.


we didn't finish lunch till about 2:15 and we knew we were still about 3-4Ks from the end. so we seriously hoofed it. we got back to the end-table at 2:56pm. whoo!

afterwards, we went to one of the bigger markets where they sold a bunch of produce, all kinds of apple condiments(salad dressing, sauce/butter/marmalade/jelly, etc), frozen pies. we sampled a bunch of apples you don't normally find at safeway. ended up buying some of the "pink lady" and "winesap" varietals. if they keep till next week, i'm definitely making an apple pie for t-day!

the walk was an awesome workout, having to speed-walk up and down hills for 13Ks. but i seriously hurt last night! thank got for hot tubs with jets... perfect for achey muscles.

rating:
WALK only: 2.5 out of 5
walk + baked apple goodness: 3.5/5