Weekend outing to Apple Hill

Every fall, thousands of Sacramento Area residents make an annual pilgrimage to Apple Hill, a rural area in the Sierra Foothills just outside of Placerville. People come for the fresh mountain air, the fall color, the farm animals and of course the fresh fruits and pies. Long an apple-growing region, Apple Hill is now also home to an increasing number of wineries, including one my favorites, Boeger.

I hadn’t been to Apple Hill in a long time so I particularly enjoyed our outing last Saturday. One change was immediately noticeable: There are many more vineyards now than there used to be. Even Kids Inc., our first stop, has extensive vineyards.

But there are still plenty of apple trees, too.

Most had been completely harvested, but we found some stray fruit here and there.

Seeing trees like these in all their fall glory was a welcome sight because in Davis there is very little fall color yet:

 

I also found cheery color in the vegetable patch:

But for me, the stars of Apple Hill are the apples. Who wouldn’t want to take home a box of these Arkansas Black?

And let’s not forget the pie! Traditional apple pie, French apple pie, Dutch apple pie, apple streusel, apple crisp, apple empenada… apple-blueberry, apple-cherry, apple-apricot, apple-pecan… The list goes on and on.

Granted, apple pie is not exactly health food, but it does put a smile on people's faces.