New England in its prime

Around this time of year, when the leaves start to change colour, it's really time for a trip outside of the city. Although Boston is reputed as a relatively tree-y city, only once you are on the roads towards a more remote part of the state can you truly behold the beauty of fall in new England.
Just yesterday, the Sunday of a beautiful autumn weekend, my friends and I packed into a car and went off to Stow, MA, home of Shelburne Farm.  I am sure you can guess what was to be found on this farm...apples, apples and more apples...oh, pumpkins, cider donuts and a hay ride of course!
We were smart to get out there early, because by around 1 oclock the place was quite busy.  What I was most impressed with was the variety of apple species available.  There were cortland, empire and macintosh, all your ordinary apple picking varietals, but then there were jonagold, mutsu (my favorite!) and northern spies. They also had their stock of antique apples, but I didn't try any of those. 
We chose to go for the large bag of apples which holds about 40 on average, but when you are really good, you can squeeze in a few more, and that doesn't count the number of apples you eat while you are picking...:) At 25 dollars for the large bag, we ended up each paying 4 dollars, not bad considering the size of some of these apples, especially the mustus, was considerable.
Now my fridge is stocked with delicious hand picked, sun-kissed apples for eating, or being more creative with...I may decide to bake an apple crumble, or make some apple sauce...who knows!?
Regardless of what I do with them, the beautiful views on the way down, the pumpkin fudge and the fun with friends made the trip invaluable!
http://www.shelburnefarm.com/