We've had a couple of fun-filled weekends recently. My company is great about hosting annual events like our summer picnic for employees and their families. This year, our picnic was at the San Diego Zoo! They rented out the private party area and had food, animal presentations, and activities for the kids. They also gave everyone a day pass to the zoo so we could explore for the rest of the day.
I got to the zoo early to help some coworkers at registration.
I got to the zoo early to help some coworkers at registration.Here are some photos of the gorgeous animals the trainers brought to our picnic area. (These pictures were taken by someone else with our company camera) 
After we had eaten & seen some of the animals, Dan & I spent the rest of the afternoon with my coworker, Fatima, and her family.
The weather was perfect and we got to see the entire zoo by way of guided bus tour, which normally costs extra but was included in our company package for that day. The San Diego Zoo is huge and we're usually exhausted from walking around the park for hours, so riding the bus & seeing the major sights in 40 minutes felt like a treat! This past weekend, we had another first experience - apple picking! We drove to a little mountain town called Julian with our friends, Paul & Ann and their son Eli. Julian is well-known for their apple orchards and fresh apple pies, jellies, candy, etc. We had heard about their fall apple harvesting season, so we jumped at the chance to join Paul & Ann when they mentioned they were going apple picking.
The apples were tiny, but crisp & delicious! 
Since we went late in the season, we had to search pretty hard for good apples. Many of the trees had been picked over and what was left on the branches was beginning to rot. It was like a treasure hunt, but it paid off in the end.
Eli picked his first apple!
And then he held onto it the whole day.
Getting there...it took us longer than we expected to fill our bag!
A few of the apple trees had pretty fall colors
Ann, Paul & Eli 
After we left the orchard, we hit some horse-and-carriage traffic on our way back into Julian
There were more horse-drawn carriages in town, including this tiny pony cart!
We walked for a while around Julian's main street & shops 
And then finished the day with freshly baked apple pie - of course! 
Mmmmm... apple caramel crumb pie
The whole group outside Mom's, the best apple pie in town!
4 comments:
Both events look like so much fun! I will admit, I am most jealous about the Julian trip. Not only would it be great to hang out with all you guys for a day again - but the pictures of the apple pies have me drooling!
Yummo! What a great day! We used to love driving up to Julian...in all seasons but you are right about the fall: gorgeous. Would kill for a "Mom's" apple pie:-)
Was that an armadillo?? Ha! What a great photo! One of these days we will HAVE to get out there, see you guys and check out the amazing SD Zoo. The orchard looks beautiful too. There's nothing fresher than picked straight from the source! :)
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