The Orchard

Last weekend we visited my parents.  Saturday was a beautiful fall day and so I suggested we all visit "The Orchard", Owned by Bob Karr, north of town on Highway 99.  If you have never been, we would recommend going there.  You can purchase freshly picked apples out of the small store there, or you can go out into the orchard and pick your own apples.  There are MANY varieties of apples to pick.  Also, available at The Orchard to purchase is honey from the local bee hives, apple butter made from The Orchard's apples, hot apple cider, gallons of cider, and apple cider slushes.  Other activities to do at The Orchard include, walking trails, feeding the catfish from the dock of the large pond, and miniature golf.  Bob Karr and his apples can also be found on Saturday mornings at the Emporia Farmer's Market in downtown Emporia.

For a link to the Emporia Farmer's Market, CLICK HERE!

Bob Karr taught math classes at the high school where my Dad also taught for MANY years.  Not only was he a math teacher, but he was the head Cross Country and Track coach for Emporia High School.  I ran for him all four years of high school.  He was a very good coach, taking our teams to state each year!  He made us work hard every day.  We ran a lot of miles.  At the peak of our Cross Country seasons the boys and girls teams may have run anywhere from 12-18 miles a day during each practice.

We picked a few apples to eat and bought some that were already picked to bring home to use in an apple cake.

The kids, Eric, and my Dad liked throwing Catfish food into the pond from the dock and watching the giant Catfish come to the surface to eat.

Silas got really tired of walking and kept telling us, "Pick you up".  This is what he says to us when he wants us to pick HIM up.  The only person who was kind enough to pick him up was Sarah.  She carried him a very long way, at least a quarter of a mile, only putting him down a couple times for a break.   What a nice big sister!

After feeding the Catfish, picking apples, and walking all around The Orchard, we headed back to the small store.  There we visited with Coach Karr a little bit more and made our purchases.  

An apple slush was an excellent way to end our trip to The Orchard!