A fun day apple picking

I wanted to experience apple season in all its glory,  so we packed up the mom-mobile and headed to Yucaipa.

Goal: pick our own apples and press our own cider.

Total cost: 5lbs apples $15, gallon of self-pressed cider $25 (glass), gas for the trip, dinner ~$30-40.

We opened the trip with a picnic lunch. We are used to hot California October weather, so you can imagine our surprise to find it windy and cloudy. It was cold during that part, but I knew it'd warm up after we hiked up to apple trees and cranked the press a few times.

After eating lunch, we walked up and across the road to the u pick orchard. It is worth noting that some areas of the orchard are roped off and labeled off limits. 

We listened to the apple picking instructions and dutifully stood in line to get our bag. You have a choice of 5 or 10 pounds. Our bag cost us $15 and some change. 
Next we hiked, yes hiked, up to the apple trees that we chose.

And the monkey is wrapped in a towel because his jacket was too thin.

We chose galas and picked from the trees. We lifted the kids to pick, too.

We paid for our apples and hiked back to the car to put them away. On the way there was this cute shabby chic country apple sign. Our resulting pictures will make a cute holiday card (if it weren't for that towel!?!)

The apple press usually gets quite a line.

Picking out our apples to press.

The bucket is full of water for washing the apples. 

The kids helped put in the apples. 

The grinding process was hard to capture. Basically, you turn the crank on the side to crush the apples into the bucket. Then you turn the part pictured until it's too hard to turn. This presses the plate down and the cider comes out into your bucket.

To give the kids a chance to help, they have a bar that you can use to help press. The kids can help pass the ends.

Lift the press to empty the last of the cider into the bucket.

Bring the crushed apple leftovers to the chute and wash out the bag.

Filter and funnel your cider into your jar.

Enjoy!

This was a great day trip that wasn't too expensive. All in all, I probably would have dressed warmer,  but I would totally repeat. I hope to make this a family tradition. It's a great family memory.