Orange County

My auntie organised a trip to the Bear Mountain National Park. We got a ride from Tito Sito, my father's brother's batch mate in high school. They had a good deal of hearty chats along the way to and from our destination.

We got to Musker Orchards nice and early and we were the first customers there. It was an expansive and welcoming place, a red barn is situated close to the parking lot and then one can see lanes after lanes of apple trees in the distance as far as the eyes can see. We sampled almost all of their Apple varieties and enjoyed Ida, Red Delicious and Contemporary. My mom was very excited, it has been a long-time dream of hers to experience apple picking. Also it had been very special to reminisce that that was the same place Lola Rosal, thoroughly enjoyed apple picking at the last and only time she was there. Apparently she climbed up an apple tree. And boasted to all members of her local community when she got back home to Ioilo City.

When we finished, there were yellow school buses around and cute children were all lined up accompanied by their teachers and were about to take a trip to the orchard. Meanwhile, we loaded one big bag of apples unto Tito Sito's vehicle. It was amazing how much could fit in a bag, it was very heavy. And even more impressive was that the Orchard visitors only have to pay by number of bags and not by weight.

After heaps of pictures, we then headed off to the Bear Mountain State park. It took us a while but we found a table and bench beside Hessian Lake. My auntie prepared heaps of food, from soy and vinegar pork, boiled rice, to braised tomato and potatoes and beef and also her generous neighbour made some stir-fried noodles and vegetables. It was wonderful weather to boot. There were the beginnings of autumn foliage in the surrounding trees and also on the hill next to the lake. Apparently the lake turns to an ice skating rink during winter time!

Then we headed back to Tita Agot's place early so we could prepare for the interstate trip tomorrow.

For dinner, she phone ordered some fried chicken from a nearby shop that she enjoys from time to time whenever she would like a quick meal. It was quite tasty batter and moist chicken on the inside.Läs mer