the ride home from acadia is somewhere in the 17 hour range, so we broke it up strategically across four travel days, finding stopping points along the way where we could do something fun in the morning and then load up and drive to the next spot in the afternoon and evening.
our first such stop was bolton, massachusetts, where derek found a little spot for us to go apple picking (and cider donut eating). it’s basically perfect apple picking season in the area and the kids had a blast. here’s the story…
we made the mistake of getting cider and donuts first. they were delicious. but there were bees everywhere, trying to share in our sugary feast. the kids were screaming and flailing and basically losing it. we tried relocating several times, before giving up and packing them up in the car.
then it was apple picking time. the fall foliage was beautiful. this is maybe one of my favorite pics…
the kids did a great job. the trees were low enough and stuffed with apples. we actually had to remind them to pace themselves, since there were two locations with different apple varieties. i was the official apple picking photographer. firstly, hazel….
and anna…..
lastly. the boy.
and some action shots of the family. getting good pics was hard, with everyone running in different directions. plus dealing with ruby. plus it was super sunny, but with lots of shady spots. so extreme lighting. and then, to get faces tucked inside apple trees. it was all tricky. here’s what i got.
pretty sunny pic means squinty eyes.
once our giant 20 lb bag was stuffed to the brim, we were ready to head back. but first some family photos. 🙂
the boys. 
me + lidkids. 
dad plus lidkids.
24 lbs in a 20 lb bag. winning. 
pretty. just because.
after a successful apple picking, we drove over to a country market type farmers market stand, where we could watch cider donuts being made (we ate ours on the ride over). we checked out all the cool pumpkins and gourds and indian corn. and refrained from purchasing all the delicious baked goods.
cider donut robot. 
prettiest indian corn ever. 
pumpkin aficionado.
inside, you could pay a nickel for a cup of fresh cider. we didn’t have any nickels, so we dropped a dollar bill in and had a couple cups of tasty, ice cold cider. i think this was the kids favorite part of the day.
after our morning festivities, we headed back to our walmart parking lot home, redistributed kids, dogs, and drivers, and got on the road for the afternoon, to our next stop.
this was by far the worst leg of the trip, from near boston, through hartford, down around nyc and a bit into new jersey, a lot of it during rush hour. derek ended up rerouting several times. basically, the northeast is an rvers nightmare. we settled in just across the pennsylvania border, in new jersey, at yet another walmart parking lot.
Great pics!