My daughter and her boyfriend invited my husband and I to a picnic in upstate New York this weekend. We went to Masker "Pick It Yourself" Orchards located in the town of Warwick in the Hudson Valley region of New York. It is only around 73 miles north of where we live in Brooklyn, which is about an hour and a half drive on a day without heavy traffic. Visiting Masker in the fall to go apple picking was our family tradition when our children were young, and we have so many fond memories of our visits to this orchard. My daughter was very excited to visit it again!
Located on 200 acres of farmland, the Masker Orchard has been in existence since 1913. It contains more than 20,000 apple trees with 14 varieties of apples!
Masker Orchard has barnyard baby animals, pony rides and wagon rides, a country store and pumpkins for sale and many fun events through the apple picking season that runs from September to early November. Apples are a healthy fruit to have as a snack. Did you know that one apple contains more dietary fiber than a bowl of bran cereal?
After picking apples we took a drive over to Wright Family Farm, also in Warwick, New York. During the fall, they offer pick-your-own pumpkins, free hay rides, and a corn maze. They also have a farm stand which features seasonal produce, fresh baked breads, and cookies. The Christmas tree season begins Thanksgiving weekend on Wright Family Farm and they sell fresh-cut Frasier, Douglas, and Balsam trees. Wreaths, roping and other seasonal decor.
We had a lot of fun getting lost in the corn maze! This year’s five acre corn maze design is the “Three Little Pigs,”and we were told that each piggy represents one of the grandchildren on the farm. You can see the maze path map on this link. Do you think you would get lost? There are section markers in the maze and you get a passport that contains clues. When you answer the question for each section correctly it will give you the direction to turn in that section, and eventually lead you towards the exit. If you can not answer the questions correctly you might wander in the maze for a long time!
Then we hoped onto the hay ride and visited the farm's pumpkin patch to pick out a few pumpkins and gourds to bring home.
There was a wonderful selection of all sizes, shapes and colors of pumpkins!
All in all it was wonderful day full of fall fun at both Masker Orchard and Wright Family Farm in beautiful upstate New York!
I'm linking to Mary at The Little Red House for "Mosaic Monday"! Please visit Mary today to see her beautiful mosaic and to find the list of all the blogs participating today.
Thank you all for your wonderful congratulations and best wishes on our happy news announcement that our second grandchild due in March will be a girl! We are so delighted!
