It has officially been a year since Greg and I started dating. Therefore, to celebrate, Greg planned a wonderful day. It was all a surprise but I guessed immediately. Greg does this thing where he asks what I like and if he stops mentioning it immediately, I know something is brewing. I've been asked no less than 10 times if I have seen the movie Dune or read the book, this means I will have no Dune related surprises. I am a genius. Having guessed the surprise, did not however make the idea of a surprise less fun, and I even refrained from guessing so it couldn't be confirmed.
So, Saturday Greg and I got up at 7am to make it to the place we were going. He said wear comfortable clothes and tennis shoes, so I was pretty sure what we were doing. I did mention that it was "our" anniversary and that jumping out of a plane, was not my idea of fun. This was just to allay my fears because who knows what we could have been doing.
After two hours, we arrived at the Double D Ranch in north western New Jersey. They gave us each a horse and we took off for the trail. Amazingly, they paired us really well with our horses. Greg's horse was really competitive and wouldn't let any of the other horses, especially mine, walk in front of it. His horse was called Man On The Run. The horse they gave me was called Johnny Walker Black. He is about 10 years old and was the slowest. The guide said I had to be careful because he likes to stop and munch grass along the way. And this was exactly what he did, thus I got yelled at for letting him. Geeze horse! Also, he loved to walk really slow, behind everyone else, then once the gap got big enough, run to catch up with everyone. So I got the slow, hungry horse! Awesome.
The whole ride was a lot of fun. We got to see some turtles sun bathing on rocks in the river, ducks, and even a pair of dogs taking a walk by themselves. Despite slowy-speedy (as I came to call my horse), riding was great. I was quite confident even after all these years of not riding. Unlike when I took lessons, I could just get off the horse and be done, no cleaning or feeding, etc. Plus, the trail was beautiful. The leaves were just starting to turn and the weather was perfect. I wasn't even that sore the next day!
Afterwards, we decided to head down to Lee's Turkey Farm for some apple picking. It is a huge farm where they raise turkeys but also fruits and vegetables. I found the farm on the Internet and really wanted to go. I think pick-your-own farms are genius. You do the labor but it is so much fun. Greg and I wandered around the apple trees looking for the best apples. We got a whole bucket full with designs on making pies, cider, apple sauce, or whatever else we come up with.
Later, we wandered into the vegetable part of the farm and picked our own zucchini, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli, hot peppers, red peppers, and corn. I was a little worried when we checked out because I was sure it was going to be expensive but it all came to around $40. That is amazing! I am sure we would have paid more in the store and it wouldn't have been as fresh or fun. Love it!
Now we are set with the task of finding recipes to make everything. I can't wait to cook the acorn squash and the zucchini. Last night, I made yellow squash soup. Delicious! Also, I've never made an apple pie or any pie for that matter where I wasn't helping someone else. So this should be a good learning experience with the apples.
It was a great day, making me one lucky girl!
No comments:
Post a Comment