Fall time!

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I drove down along Highway 1 and stopped at not only an apple orchard but also pumpkin patch, my little fall loving heart was so happy with all of our fall finds!

Apple orchard in Davenport, near Santa Cruz

On Saturday morning I woke up with the urge to explore and find anything fall related in the Bay Area. Even though it has been a bit hot here in California, I still wanted to find something that reminded me of fall.

Looking through google, searching for just about anything, I came across apple picking at Swanton Pacific Ranch, in Davenport, CA, which is only about an hours drive from my house.

After finding this, I quickly made a call to make sure it was still open and luckily it was! We left our house and made it over the hill to Santa Cruz, had lunch at Woodstock’s pizza and then started the 30-minute drive up the beautiful highway 1.

As we drove along the coast, passing by picturesque beaches, we also passed by multiple pumpkin patches; I vowed to my boyfriend that we just had to stop there on the way back.

How do you like them apples?

By the time we made it up to the apple orchard, it was 4 pm and orchard was basically empty save for about five people. All the employees left so we had pay for our pickings by weighing them, then looking to a chart which told you how much you paid per pound.

The orchard itself had rows and rows of apple trees, each row having a sign to explain what kind of apple it was and it if was ripe or not. We picked about 5 lbs worth of apples and paid around $12.

Pumpkin patch time

We spent about an hour at the orchard and when we left we had a 5 pound bag of apples and another fall activity crossed off my bucket list.

About a 10-minute drive down highway 1, we spotted Seaside Pumpkin Patch; a big red barn with dozens of pumpkins met us. Behind the barn, one could see straight over the green fields into the ocean.

Because we got there around 5:15, we had to pay by the honor system. We gathered five pumpkins, all with different colors and sizes and left $20 in a lock box.