Orchards in Hendersonville, NC: Sky Top and Jeter Mountain

Why hello!! It's me! And wow, it's been A WHILE. Instagram has basically become my blog, but I wanted to share a little about our adventure last weekend because I've had a few people ask about the orchards around Asheville. I did as much research as I could for a year leading up to our trip and screenshot Insta stories from everyone I knew going to the mountains last year haha!

We spent last weekend at an Airbnb in Asheville, and it was beautiful! We had a fire put for s'mores and beautiful views of the mountains around us. Plus, it was into the 40s every night, so we slept (and froze) with the windows open.

So, there aren't any apple orchards in Asheville, but Henderson County (about an hour south) is the largest apple-producing county in North Carolina. We chose to visit an orchard on our way in on Thursday afternoon and a second on our way out of town on Sunday morning. Obviously visiting one on a weekday and one on a weekend, it's not comparing apples to apples (pun maybe intended?), but I think the information is still valuable!

On Thursday afternoon, we got to Sky Top around 3pm. They're open daily 9am-6pm, and it's quite a windy road up to the orchard. You walk into a rustic, dusty concrete floor, high ceiling barn where you can buy bagged apples, cider, cider slushies (Calvin's favorite), cans of hard cider you can carry around the property, pies, jams and butters, and tickets for apple picking, donuts, and all the other activities.

What struck me were all the well-labeled signs of where to line up for cash registers, donuts, and tractor rides. None of those signs were needed on Thursday, and so many people kept commenting about how few people were there, so I think got really lucky with our choice of day. 

We decided to pick apples first. We walked down the hill with our slushies to the start of the orchard where an employee directed us to the apples we wanted to pick. Just FYI you aren't allowed into the orchards unless you pay for a $25 bag to u-pick as many apples as you can fit. Phew! It was a hike! Up and down hills out to the far end of the orchard. We could pick anywhere we wanted to pick, and there were a ton of apples both on the trees and the ground. We picked a bunch of apples and headed back up the hill to meet our friends and try the other activities. 

The tractor ride is just for fun (rides in a loop without stops in the orchard), and there's also a bee (barrel) train that does a few loops. There's also a playground, gem mining, and an apple cannon. 

Before we left, we made sure to get apple cider donuts (apparently that line is wild on the weekends) and a caramel apple for the road. 

All in all, I'd call Sky Top a very fun, kid-centered, rustic orchard. 

We spent the next 3 days in Asheville making s'mores, hiking, and visiting breweries (a few favorites listed at the bottom of this post). 

On Sunday morning, we left our Airbnb and headed back to Hendersonville for Jeter Mountain Farm. They're only open Thursday and Friday 10am-3pm and Saturday and Sunday 10am-5pm, and I had heard it gets BUSY. We got there at about 10:30 and were about the 30th car there. 

My first impression was just WOW. The whole facility is brand new with high ceilings, stone exteriors, and wooden interiors. There are separate spaces for the cidery, coffee shop, market (gift shop), donut window, and there's even a permanent barbecue truck up the hill. 

After a cider slushie and some hot donuts, we got in line to pay for apples and a hayride. Jeter was $29 for apple picking, which included a basket to keep and a ride out to the orchard. (To compare the two, Sky Top picking was $25, and the tractor ride around the property was $3 per person, so Jeter was slightly less expensive and you didn't have to hike out to the fields.) 

The line to pay and for the tractor only took a few minutes each, and the ride out to the orchard was beautiful, through grapevines, blackberries, and many other crops. 

When we got off the tractor, we were greeted by another employee who told us where to pick and what kinds of apples were available. While the orchards were much more manicured, the area to pick was much smaller than Sky Top. There were ropes blocking you off from many of the rows, and while there were a few rows for each type of apple, only a few trees still had apples, so people were all congregating around them. (Yes, I did my best in my photos to make it look like we were the only ones there haha.)

After a full basket of apples, we took a tractor ride back and shopped around the market before getting a flight of cider to enjoy while Calvin played in the playground space. 

We really enjoyed both orchards and would definitely go back to both. But now, the superlatives in case you want to plan your own trip:

• Better apple picking: Tie (walk out on your own to a wide open, go-wherever-you-want experience at Sky Top versus tractor ride to a very controlled and people-filled but well manicured orchard at Jeter)
• Better apples: Tie (I swear this is the last tie haha)
• Better cider (and slushies): Sky Top
• Better hard cider: Jeter (get a flight!)
• Better cider donuts: Sky Top
• Better market: Sky Top (apple butter and caramel apples - yum!)
• Better selection of food: Jeter (Sky Top didn't have a meal option)
• Better hayride: Jeter
• Better playground: Jeter
• Better other activities: Sky Top 
• Better photo ops: Jeter

And if you're looking for other Asheville things to do, we really enjoyed: walk around Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary (stroller-friendly), all the animals at WNC Nature Center, beers at Burial Beer Co and Whistle Hop (it's train-themed), and frozen custard sandwiches at Whit's.

Maui: Whale watch

Today is finally my last babymoon post!  We only finished our trip six months ago, so I guess it's about time!  If you're interested in seeing any posts you may have missed, I will link to all of them at the bottom of this post.

One of the last adventures we took was a whale watch.  Honestly, we didn't plan to do one in advance, but once we got there, we decided that this and a luau were two "traditional" Hawaii vacation things that we shouldn't miss.  Luckily, it was easy to get a reservation online, and we went out with the Pacific Whale Foundation from Lahaina.  

Our watch was on the Ocean Quest, and the whole staff was so genuinely in love with their job and these whales that you could feel their enthusiasm.  They played music the whole time and chimed in with facts about the whales and whale locations over the whole two-hour cruise.  We had such a fantastic time, and this is definitely something I would do on any future trips out to Maui.

As promised, here are the other Maui adventures we took:

• Where We Stayed: Ritz-Carlton Kapalua
• Where We Stayed: Fairmont Kea Lani, Wailea
• Road to Hana
• Exploring Kula and Haleakala
• East Kapalua and Makena Point road trips
• Top 5 Macadamia Nut Lattes on Maui (and our favorite coffee shops)

Maui's Roads Less Traveled: East Kapalua and Makena Point

There are those adventures that everyone hears about on Maui: Road to Hana, the Summit of Haleakala, and, of course, the beaches all over the island.  There are also a few that aren't as often talked about but are equally as fun and adventurous.  While we were in Maui, we took two of these drives: up through West Maui to Kapalua and down East Maui to Makena Point.

If you look at Maui on the map, there are roads that follow the northern shores of the west and east sides of the island.  Both roads start near the airport, in the central valley of Maui.  The eastern road is one of the most well-known adventures in Hawaii: the Road to Hana, but the west side is definitely a hidden gem.  For the first part of our trip, we stay up in Kapalua, so we decided to take that windy road to our hotel on the first day we got there.  There's almost nothing up there, but the views are amazing, and FYI, the road is not for the faint of heart stomach.  If you had trouble with the Road to Hana, I might not suggest this trip.  However, if you like one-lane roads with tons of switchbacks, blind curves, and no guard rails, make sure you (have a Jeep, a few full afternoon, and) take this drive!

We went at the perfect time of day to see an amazing sunset over the mountains!  Plus, we made friends with a whole herd of cattle. 

One of the days we stayed in Wailea, we continued driving south to Makena Point to walk along the lava fields.  It was the most amazing scenery!  The walk was pretty easy, and if you like snorkeling, this is definitely the place to do it. I would definitely suggest getting there early because there isn't much parking, and the spots fill up quickly!

2019 at The Masters and DIY Round Up

Happy Masters weekend, friends!  Last July, I received one of the most amazing emails ever: I was selected for the random Masters ticket lottery.  If you haven't heard of it before, this is how tickets are distributed for the tournament; someone in your household can enter the free lottery in the spring, and in the summertime, you hear if you were accepted or not.  Well, we were selected for 4 Tuesday practice round tickets, and I've been looking forward to this week ever since.

We arrived before the 7am gate opening (even though every website will tell you 8am, you can actually get in an hour earlier to go to the gift shop, concessions, and practice range before access to the course opens at 8am).  We ate chicken biscuits, shopped for ourselves (and all of our families), and checked all of our purchases to pick up later.

As you can probably tell from my first few photos, it was a rainy morning, but we made the most of it and got great seats in Amen Corner to watch the couple of groups come through.  While Mike drank a couple beers, I had the famous Stand 12 punch (lemonade, blue powerade, and Sprite) along with plenty of sandwiches and peach ice cream sandwiches.

 Around 11am, we did get kicked out for a couple of hours as a line of thunderstorms was in the area, but at 12:45 when they let us back in, the sun came out and the rest of the afternoon was perfect!

I'm unsure if we will be back next year after our little dude is born, but we will definitely still be entering the lottery, just in case!

Whether or not you're headed to August this weekend, if you plan on celebrating this weekend, click on the photo below to visit my post and get in the spirit!

 

 

Exploring Kula and Haleakala

Welcome back to my Maui recaps!  One of the first recommendations I received when asking for advice in Maui was to go to Surfing Goat Dairy.  I had no idea what it was, but it sounded cool!  We ended up building a whole day out of Surfing Goat and the surrounding areas as well as a trip up nearby Haleakala to see the crater.

Our first stop of the day was Surfing Goat Dairy, which was about an hour from our hotel in Kapalua.  We pulled up and parked besides some baby goats and started walking the grounds.  They have a gift shop, a small kitchen, and a few picnic tables in the guest area.  We signed up for the first tour of the day and met the resident cat, Emma!  Yes, that's her on top of the pergola in the photo below.  On the tour, we learned all about the history of the dairy's name, the goats, the milking process, and even got to feed them.  The tour ended with samples of a few of their goat cheese, and luckily, Hawaii is a full-pasteurization state, so I could try everything!

Our next stop of the day was right down the road at Ocean Organic Vodka.  We toured their grounds and learned all about how they make their vodka from sugar cane on their plantation and water from thousands of miles down in the Pacific Ocean.  Unfortunately, I couldn't try the vodka and rum (Mike said it was good!), but I did get a sample a bunch of the fresh sugar cane.

After our first two tours, we were ready for lunch and drove a couple of miles to the middle of the town of Kula to try Kula Bistro.  They had everything from Italian to Hawaiian to seafood, so we tried a little bit of everything: Kula pork eggrolls, mac and cheese with shrimp, and penne alla vodka with shrimp and scallops.  Everything was absolutely amazing!

Next on the list was Ali'i Kula Lavender Farm, just up the mountain in Kula.  We honestly didn't spend a lot of time there, as we were already a little "toured-out" after the goat farm and distillery, but we walked the gardens and through the gift shop for a $3 per person admission at the gate.  It was really pretty and definitely worth a short stop if you happen to be in the area.

And our last adventure was to drive up to 10,023 feet through Haleakala National Park.  We did have a pay a $25 admission fee per car, but it was so worth it.  The switchbacks all the way up the mountain were amazing, and we only got a little nervous right at the top when our Jeep started to overheat.  We think it was just the depleted oxygen levels, and luckily, it was fine all the way back down.  We seriously went on one of the coldest days of the year.  There were 50-60mph sustained winds at the top and with the wind chill, it was hovering around 20 degrees.  We walked around for a few minutes at the top and honestly tried not to blow away or get wind burn!  It was such an amazing view, and you could see all the way over to the Big Island.

This was a perfect day trip to make the most of the central part of Maui.  What was crazy is that the following day, snow covered all of Haleakala, almost all the way down to the lavender farm.  It had never snowed that low in elevation before, but don't worry, we were still loving the mid-70s weather at sea level!