Apple Hill · 3:59am Oct 4th, 2020

The other day, I went on a trip to Apple Hill!

What is Apple Hill? Apple Hill is a part of Northern California, within the boundaries of the tiny town of Camino. Camino is more or less the real-world equivalent of Ponyville, complete with a forest on the outskirts. Perched atop Apple Hill is the intersection of multiple apple orchards (hence the name), & annually, one could go to pick the apples there & purchase them.

But not this year.

They had craft fairs & farmer’s markets, but there was no apple-picking this year.

Sadly, as it turns out, the reason why I had no access to apples this year is because of COVID-19: They didn’t want anybody getting their hands all over everything. Additionally, picking was probably only allowed on weekends anyway, to encourage the trees to bear more fruit before they inevitably got picked again, & my day off was on a Thursday, not on the weekend.

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy myself.

First of all, the trip on the way was not without its sights…

Sadly, I didn’t get to take a better photo of that stone, it’s truly the best one I have. This region seems to have been affected by sliding tectonic plates, resulting in the rocks forming “wave” shapes & these giant single stones perched atop hills.

After a smooth, relaxing drive, I arrived in Camino. I’m afraid I have few photographs of the town, because I was driving from place to place, & because on the eastern edges of Camino, many of the buildings are obscured by trees. Towards the west it is by far more open, but few of my activities were in that direction.

When I finally arrived at Apple Hill, I was greeted with sights of little stands everywhere, selling many homemade crafts, as well as a considerable amount of food derived from our favorite delicious fruit, including this:

FLIM-FLAM BROTHERS INTENSIFIES!!

The first place I stopped for long was a stand that sold a little bit of any kind of craft you could ask for, aprons, geodes, you name it, but this is what caught my attention:

These were dino-mite! However, it was not the only dinosaur-related thing offered:

...Not my first choice...

...But it's a solid number two!

After this, I stopped by a fudge shop in the area, complete with this sign:

How true that is!

Inside of the shop, there were many posters for 1980s movies, but this gem was what stuck out to me the most:

I didn’t get this kind of fudge (I got plain chocolate; as a policy, whenever I attend a new fudge shop, I always try their default chocolate fudge, to evaluate the quality of the fudge provided as a whole), but I realized that this fudge would most certainly delight the users here.

But indeed, what’s an apple orchard without apples?! Again, I sadly didn’t get to pick them myself, but I did get to get some apples & some apple jam from the farmer’s market among the craft fair:

Speaking of the craft fair, I think this may delight some of the users here:

Well?

The second farmer’s market was painfully inferior to the first; less to do, & less variety. Security guards were everywhere, & it had a generally unpleasant atmosphere by comparison. However, I found this:

On top of that, I was able to snap some really good photos of the orchards behind!

It was torture; the trees were within my view, but I was not allowed to pick from them.

On a more positive note, I stopped at a pizzaria/brewery with excellent food, the most fascinating of which was that the staff there made their own cola rather than use familiar brands, pictured below:

…Finally, as that perfect bookend, I got photographs of the same scenery on the way home.

But on the bright side, I got good apples, good fudge, & good pizza out of it! The trip was not a total bust!

...Not that bust is bad, I like bust! You apparently can stuff baguettes in bust & eat said baguettes while gaming! ...Which I'm afraid I'll never do because I'm a bit, ah, shall we say genitally challenged, for such a feat.