A is for April and Apples

This past weekend we made our annual trip to Saltspring Island for the 2011 Apple Festival. I was so excited to share this with our daughter. Last year I was almost 6 months pregnant and I remember dreaming about coming back with my baby.

The weather held out (the forecast was for rain which we never ended up getting). We visited the Saturday market. Got some local organic garlic, handmade soap, hand knitted baby socks and yummy fresh baked snacks. The market at Ganges is always such a treat (though it is so popular it is no almost impossible to find a parking spot anywhere in the Ganges area on a Saturday).

Our cabin was nice, a big improvement over last years accommodation. We had a beautiful view of the lake and the living room was just big enough for April to explore safely. Every year I pine over the warm weather. I keep thinking we need to visit St. Mary Lake in the summer because it looks like such a lovely place to swim and boat.

The apple festival itself was a big challenge. The whole idea of it is to drive around to various farms on Saltspring. April does not do road trips well. This day was a particularly bad day. In the end we only went to 3 locations.

What we did see, we enjoyed. We visited the Saltspring Cheeseworks which April actually really enjoyed. She loves animals and there were sheep, goats, chickens and dogs. We adults got to enjoy some goat's milk gelato which was surprisingly rich and creamy for gelato.

We also stopped by Apple Luscious. April got to taste some of the apples and mama got to enjoy an amazing gluten free brownie.

Overall, I was disappointed we didn't get to visit more locations but I really enjoyed the family time and being able to take April to the farms we did visit.