October 9: Apple Charlie's

My Mother-In-Law invited us over for dinner today, followed by a trip out to Apple Charlie's in New Boston. It's an apple orchard, and my wife shared with the kids and I that she and her family had gone there years ago. Apparently, it was a whole lot of fun! You can pick apples, they have a haunted house, a cider mill...the whole nine yards as Fall festivities go. I, myself, had never been, nor had the kids. So, we went down to their house early, had a wonderful home-cooked meal, then headed off for some fun at Apple Charlie's. Unfortunately, like most things, it seems the years have changed Apple Charlie's, and it wasn't quite the funfest that my wife and her family remembered. Instead, it was...well, just different. Different crowd. Different environment. Just different. There are carnival rides now, hay rides, still apple picking, and even a farm that included a live Ostrich. Strange place for an ostrich, but okay. The lone bright spot, aside from just hanging out with the extended family, was that the kids got to do pony rides; which was cool, as they love that kind of stuff! Other than that, not too much that was memorable. In fact, I think we stayed a total of 30 minutes, if that. The funniest thing was, as we were walking back to the car to go home, my wife, Mother-In-Law and Father-In-Law agreed, almost simultaneously, that it couldn't have been the place they remembered going to years before. If only they had remembered that an hour before, we could have all been saved the experience that is Apple Charlie's.