Apple Orchards, Gays Mills, WI
Saturday, September 30, 2023
Today, we took the mothers (Harriet & Karen) on a day trip with us to the apple orchards in Gays Mills, Wisconsin. It was unseasonably warm for the final day of September, with a high in the upper 80s.
This trip is a yearly pilgrimage every fall, and it is always a special day. In all the years we have been coming to the orchards, we have never seen it this busy. Everyone was in a fall mood, even if the weather wasn’t.
Sunrise Orchard is the largest and the most impressive by a significant margin. However, all the others have their own charms.
The gourds are always fun to look at. Not entirely sure what function they serve, other than as decorations.
The sunflowers were mostly past their prime at this time of year, but there were still a few holding on and standing tall.
Not sure what the deal is with “warty” pumpkins. We have been seeing more and more of these around. I suspect this is just some type of genetic alteration rather than a disease issue. I don’t think the pumpkins are HPV vectors.
The apple trees are nestled into the rolling hills. Sunrise Orchard has an amazing amount of acreage spreading all across the area. The surrounding hills have yet to change into fall colors this year.
Decorative bottles of Maple Syrup at Kickapoo Orchard.
On the way back home, we drove up the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi. We stopped at Lock & Dam #8 just to get out and stretch our legs and lucked into seeing a southbound barge entering the locking chamber. This tug had 12 barges and the deckhand told us only three of them were full. You can see here that these three are clearly some of the empty ones, as they are riding very high in the water.
A view looking across the front of the leading barges as they floated past.
Because they cannot fit all 12 barges and the tug into the locking chamber at the same time, they have to break the group up into two segments. Here, the deckhands are working to separate the barges on the left, which will remain in the chamber, from the ones on the right which will be pulled back out with the tug. Once the first group is locked and lowered they will be attached to a winch and pulled out of the chamber to await the second group and the tug. They will then be reattached and headed on their way once again. It is quite a process and can take a fair amount of time. The pleasure crafts are always anxious to beat them into the locks, or else they are stuck waiting for this entire process before they can get their turn in the chamber.
These final three images are actually from the next day (10/1/23). Lisa and I went to Lake City and stopped at Pepin Heights Orchard. I snapped a few photos of the fall decorations and fare. These didn’t really warrant an entirely separate entry of their own, so we will put them here with the other orchard photos.
