What a fun weekend! My former supervisor at work (Mikie) mentioned that he was getting a group together to go to Oak Glen for the weekend. http://www.oakglen.net/ If you have never been, you have go.
After a rocky start on Sunday morning, I finally got to Oak Glen at about 12:30, an hour late. The rest of the group had gotten there at 11:30. There were some last minute cancellations in my group, so I had a late start. Silly us we had decided to just call once we got up there to figure out a meeting place. I say silly us, because there was no cell phone reception for anyone up there. My group (myself and my co-worker Todd) drove around for about 10 minutes looking for the 1st group (Mikie, Russel, and Staci), or trying to at least identify 1st group’s car. We were pulling into a huge orchard/restaurant called Los Rios and just happened to catch a glimpse of the 1st group as they were waiting in line for lunch. We were actually lucky we were late because they had been waiting in line for 20 minutes, and we joined them and only waited 5 minutes.
For lunch you had your choice of tri tip sandwich, mini tri tip sandwich, turkey sandwich, a platter, or ribs. I went for the ribs, and were they goood! They had a dry rub on them, and were perfectly charred, and just had a hint of spicy heat. The menu also featured all sorts of different apple deserts, but we were too full for the moment for dessert.
After a very satisfying lunch, we decided to check out some trails we saw. They started out fun and easy, but then we came across a trail simply called “Loop.” If you should ever come across said trail, beware; it is not an easy trail. We figure we hiked enough to not have to work out for the rest of the week.
Next stop was Riley’s farm for some apple pickin’. We purchased the size bag we wanted and then ventured out into the orchard for some Winesap apples. The orchard had been pretty picked through, and you were at a picking disadvantage if you were shorter than 7 feet tall. Since tree shaking, tree climbing, and branch pulling was not allowed, we had some dismal attempts at climbing on each other’s shoulders to reach some of the better apples. We were finally able to score an apple picker from a family who was on their way out. This turned our previous disadvantage into at least a 12 foot advantage. We were able to get the big, juicy, read apples all the way at the top of the trees.
After filling our bags to the top, we stopped by and bought some jugs so we could do some apple cider pressing. They had two presses set up and with the purchase of a jug, you were allowed to press some cider from apples they had soaking in huge barrels. We went to work. It takes about 60 apples to make a gallon of cider. Mikie, Russel, and Todd took turns cranking on the press while Staci and I carried apples back and forth from the barrel to the grinder. We made pretty quick work of the grinder and had two gallons grinded and pressed in about 15 minutes. After all that hard grinding the freshly pressed cider tasted really good!
We had heard rumors of cherries and peaches being in season as well. So we headed up the road to locate said orchards. Seeing no signs touting either, we finally stopped to inquire about cherries and peaches. Those are apparently in season in July and August respectfully, and the cherries are located down the road in the aptly named area of Cherry Valley.
So we then decided to head home. We had to make one last stop for gas, and noticed that there was a Baker’s across the street. Evidently Baker’s is Inland Empire’s version of In n’ Out, and I must say, it is a better version. It was decided then and there that we had to have a shake stop. I had a strawberry and Oreo shake.
After that we decided to head home.
I have a big ol’ bag of apples, and a gallon of cider. I am more than ready for fall.
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