We decided to take a day trip yesterday. We drove up into the North Georgia Mountains for a day of fun.
The drive up was beautiful - the colors were so pretty. Even though we missed the peak of the colorful season, it was still beautiful.
We visited Hillcrest Orchards. We usually go during October when it is prime apple season. And it is always crowded.
Since we waited until now to go, the apples and the crowd had something in common - they were minimal. And we really liked that! Well, especially the lack of people. And since we weren't buying apples, it was fine that there weren't many of them either.
The biggest reason we decided to go was for the petting farm. We haven't been there since Ruthi was born,and we knew she would love this - since she is a HUGE fan of animals!
The petting farm is a large pen where the animals coexist. Chickens, goats (my favorite), sheep, puppies and a calf, all mingling and playing and frolicking together.
There are a couple of cats, but they stay in a cage, and you can take them out to hold them. (Guess they don't want them running off.)
There were 2 pigs in a smaller pen that you can reach into. And then there were some bunnies, but you can only look at them in their jail. (It is actually a HUGE bunny cage!)
Ruthi was in heaven with these animals, and I'm pretty sure she would have stayed there all day with them if we had let her.
The goats are so cute - they are like little dogs. When you go to the food machine to get some for them, they all come running. And then they jump up on you like dogs, trying to be the first to get that food!
You hold your palm out, and you have at least 15 tongues darting into your hand, trying to get a taste. It's really funny. And actually a lot of fun!
Once we were able to convince Ruthi to move on, we walked over to the 'big slide'. This thing is rested on the side of a large hill. I wish I had remembered to take a picture of the other side - of the climb you have to make to get up there!
Ruthi could hardly contain her excitement when she saw that big slide! She took off up the hill to have a turn.
CJ went with her, and was trying to convince her to sit in his lap to go down. (He was being a very good, protective big brother. He didn't think she'd go down by herself.)
She wouldn't have any of that. She told him that he should go first! I did convince her to go first once I let her know she didn't have to sit in his lap.
She hopped right onto that thing and took off like a pro, hands in the air. She was not intimidated at all. She loved it, and took off running to do it again (and again, and again...)
CJ decided to go down belly first, but he tucked his arms by his side, and looked very much like a seal coming down! And he found that coming down like that was kind of painful due to the way the slide is constructed.
Then it was the zip swing. CJ used to have so much fun on this. But he is too big for it now - he has surpassed the maximum weight.
It was rusty, and wouldn't slide on it's own, so Chip had to push it the whole way. But Ruthi still had fun.
After purchasing some apple cider donuts and some blackberry jam, we began the journey home.
Ruthi fell asleep.
CJ watched a movie.
I fell asleep.
Thankfully, Chip stayed awake.
I slept for about an hour, and then woke up to keep Chip company the rest of the way.
We decided to make a detour and stop to eat at a place called the Pizza Farm. It had been many years since we had eaten there, and forgot just how good that pizza was!
Oh, and the fried dill pickles...yum!
It was a fantastic day and I'm so glad we 'took the day off'.
I took a TON of pictures. I tried just picking my favorites, but I think that ended up being 39! So I put them in a slide show. If you want to look at them all, you might want to pop some popcorn first! LOL!
(I think you can click on it and make them go by faster.)
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