Apple Picking in Oak Glen

My friend Sandi had the bright idea of going apple picking. She did it in Vermont and thought it would be fun for us girls to go pick our own apples. Sue and Ana were excited. I was excited to eat apple pie and maybe BUY some apples but not go picking especially when I learned that we had to pay for the privilege of doing manual labor. As far as I am concerned, I should be paid for labor and not the other way around. Oh well, I am usually a good sport so I had to show some enthusiasm.

We left at 8:00 a.m. on a Monday morning. On our way through the winding roads uphill, we encountered a fawn that looked lost and confused. I had to slow down as he looked at us then went on to cross the road.  It was getting chilly as we climbed to nearly 5,000 ft. Our first stop was Law's Oak Glen Coffee Shop. We had to eat a hearty breakfast to get the energy to pick our apples! It was a given that we order something with apples.  Apple pancakes sounded good so that's what we had. The pancakes were big and fluffy. They had apples in them and a small bowl of cooked apples accompanied the pancakes. They had maple syrup and apple cinnamon syrup. I never had apple cinnamon syrup. I tried a bite of a pancake with just maple and another bite with the apple cinnamon. I liked them both so ......I poured both syrups together. It was deeeelicious. The apples in the bowl were not sweet enough so it had to be doctored by a drizzle of the apple cinnamon syrup.

We then went to different apple farms, Riley, Apple Annies, Moms Country, Homestead. Pretty soon nobody was interested in picking apples especially when they were all selling apples in bags as we sampled numerous kinds. We all agreed on the best kind of apple which we sampled; it's called MUTSU apple. It was very sweet with a hint of tartness; crisp and just yummy.  Yummy (fresh) apples was never in my vocabulary, except of course for caramel apples.

After a couple of hours walking and going in and out of shops we all decided we had to sample some apple pies before heading back. There was a mile high apple pie that looked good and we were ready to all buy one to take home. Someone suggested we order a slice (big slices) of apple pie and a slice of the cherry pie. We also ordered some vanilla ice cream to go with our pies. We were elated that we didn't buy the pies as they really were just o.k. Sue said she would make us apple crisps that's very good. Both Sandi and Ana also said they can bake better pies that those. I was the only silent one as I don't bake pies, I only know where to purchase them.

We encountered traffic coming back to L.A. and decided to have another bite to eat at a restaurant as it was dinner time. I would say it was a fun day for the ladies. Oak Glen would be fun for families as well as they have petting zoos and activities for the whole family. Oak Glen is located in the San Bernardino Mountains between Yucaipa and Beaumont.