Wild-Hair Friends and an Apple-picking Adventure

We all have that wild-hair friend. You know the one I'm talking about. The one that's always got an idea on a whim and can somehow suck you into it. I love friends like that! Your wild-hair friends are often the same friends who are there to encourage you on your worst of days. They're your "build-a-bridge-and-get-on-over-it" friends, who will quickly remind you that life is too short to sulk or be the victim. If you don't have a friend like that...find one!

One of my wild-hair friends happens to be Anna. If you know my Anna, then I need not explain. She's tried it all. She's won some. And lost some. But has never let it stop her from moving on to the next thing! She's someone who has a knack for getting me excited about life. I just love her.

Anna and I go way back. We were the best of friends in  high school. Cheerleaders. Impulsive sleepover buddies. Karaoke Queens. Double Daters. You name it. We did it together. We remained friends through college, weddings, babies, and all. She's one of those friends who I may not talk to for a while but it seems no time has passed at all when we finally do catch up.

Any who... Anna called me last Friday with a plan to go to Sky Top Orchard in the mountains of beautiful Zirconia, NC. Fortunately, living in Columbia, we're only a couple of hours away from the beach or the mountains, so making a day trip is a piece of cake. It's one of the reasons I love where I live.

Shan and I had a laundry list of chores to do on Saturday that was kind of looming over us. Going to visit the apple orchard at Sky Top was also on our to do list, but we've kept putting it off because of other things. {It happens to be on my 40x40 Challenge too, that I haven't done so well with.} So we decided the chores could wait!

We hopped in the car and headed to Sky Top early Saturday morning. That place is like the Disney World of apples, y'all. They make the most delicious Apple Cider donuts. And I don't even like donuts!!! Oh and the mini apple pies made me want to slap my momma! I also can't wait to try all the great recipes I've pinned to use all the apples we picked.

For the boys, we kept it a surprise where we were going until the mountains began to peek over the horizon - which happens to be one of the most amazing sites. They were super excited to see what this was all about, as were Shannon and I. We told them we were meeting friends there and that made their anticipation even greater. We spent the rest of the drive giving hints and playing the guessing game.

Just so you know, it's best to get there as early as possible...like 9ish. We arrived about 10am. The weather was chilly with a beautiful October blue sky. We picked a ridiculous amount of apples, sipped hot cider, fed goats, petted animals, ran through the bamboo forest - which made me feel like I was stuck in an episode of Dora the Explorer - and bought apple everything to bring home. But the best part was making a memory with my boys and Anna and her family. I can't believe we waited so many years to make the trip. But now, it has definitely made it's way onto to our must-do tradition list!

 

Thank you, wild-hair friend, for a great idea and for giving me one more thing to be excited about! I love you! {Oh and why didn't we take a normal pic of our 5 children?}

 

 

Find links to Days 1-31 here!