Down the Road with Jumbo: In Search of the Perfect Apple...

When I was a child, this time of the year meant a trip to Cashmere and Tiny's Fruit Stand. I'm not sure if it was a yearly tradition or a one-time trip that was so awesome that it stuck in my memory for all these years.

It was a big place full of all kinds of things to look at, smell and taste - the aroma of apples permeated everything, mixed with the scent of the pine wood chips that covered the floor. We would get a free sample of the ice-cold cider, but I don't remember if we ever bought a jug. I'm sure Bobby, Margie and I wanted one of the many souvenirs that were on display. What we each did get was an all-day sucker, which was gigantic and lasted much longer than a day. I would enjoy mine during the ride home and wrap what was left in saran wrap to finish off in the next few days. We bought a couple of boxes of apples which made the car smell heavenly all the way home.

Those apples would be transformed into pies and crisps, and I remember stirring huge pots of applesauce.

Since it is that time of the year, Larry and I set out this morning on our own quest to find some apples to make a chunky applesauce in our handy little crockpot. Our plan was to buy the apples at the Maltby Produce Market, but when we drove by they weren't quite open, so we decided to head on over to the Bothell Landing and stop at the Yakima Fruit Stand in Bothell afterwards.

I used to take my kids to the park at Bothell Landing years ago to feed the ducks, most likely following a visit to the Country Village. The park seems to have changed just a bit, and I didn't see a single duck. Well, there was one, but he was flying and not floating about waiting to be fed. Some things, however, were just as they were thirty years ago.

I love the bridge with its mossy railings.

The reflections in the Sammamish River were pretty amazing, even on a cloudy day.

It was a beautiful day for a walk along the Sammamish Trail. It wasn't raining...so far.

The bridge was a little slippery with all of the fallen leaves.

An interesting stump covered with some sort of lichen or mushrooms?

The trees were so colorful.

Unfortunately, the museum located in the William Hannan Home wasn't open...

This little cabin cabin housed Andrew and Augusta Beckstrom and their 16 children!

Their third child, John, was born in the cabin and is the first recorded birth in Bothell. The cabin wasn't open today, but I remember visiting with Matt and Rachel when they were little.

The 1885 schoolhouse.

The rains came and we scurried off to the car.

I thoroughly enjoyed our visit. It brought back a lot of wonderful memories.We realized we were getting hungry, and there just happened to be an Ivar's down the road...

I'm so glad that they now have a soba noodle salad on the menu...it was delicious!

Larry brought a bag along specifically for Duchess' share of his clams. She was very happy to see us when we got back to the car and waited patiently while Larry filled up her bowl! She's just a little spoiled.

So, back to the quest for the apples. We drove to the Yakima Fruit Stand and it was closed for the season! What? We need apples! So we headed back to the Maltby Produce Market.

I was hoping to find some apples from the Cashmere/Wenatchee area but we did much better than that. They carried REALLY local apples, from Marshland Orchards just down the road in Maltby! If we had room to store them, we would have gotten a whole box, but picked out about five pounds of three different varieties - Liberty, Melrose and Mutsu - a few for eating as are and a few for applesauce.