The air sparkled, the sun shed just the right light, greens looked greener, flowers looked brighter, and the sky was as clear as my computer screen before I start cluttering it up with fonts, formats, inserts, layouts and headings. It was the most fantastic day to drive over the mountains to Piney River, Virginia and Saunders Brothers Orchard.
Off we went – four eager females in search of the perfect peach. I was the designated driver, not because I was drinking, but because I like being in control and able to threaten (with walking) any passengers who torment me about taking wrong routes.
So, in preparation for the usual verbal onslaught, I determined to stay calm this trip. Everybody was talking at once, and LOUDLY, so remaining unruffled was already a challenge, but I was determined not to react. “Ommmmmm,” I whisper-chanted to myself as we took on the hairpin curves of a roller coaster road.
Some of my great blogger friends had suggested I use a GPS (Global Positioning System) so as never to be lost again. So, I asked Bill to help me plug in Saunders’ location on our GPS. Guess what? There was no such place listed! We put in the address, the zip code, city, state. Nada!
Does Saunders Brothers really exist? I wonder. In some odd way, if it’s not on the GPS, I think maybe I’m living in another sphere. The places I know don’t really exist. And if they aren’t real, maybe I’m not either. Maybe I only exist in the blogusfear? “Ommmmmmm.”
But returning to earth, even with only maps and intuition to guide us, we did not get lost this time. After about an hour of winding road, (and carefully avoiding the Devil’s Route – 666) we came upon Saunders Brothers! And we hurriedly scurried to the tasting area, which is something like wine tasting only you don’t wind up dizzy. What a delightful occupation on a perfect morning! Now if we could only find a vineyard for the wine tasting! Oh yes, and there was ice cream too, and even an antiques area!
But, happiness is a load of fresh Virginia peaches. And yes, we all came home with more than we planned for and now I am relegated to making a peach cake and Bill wants peach cobbler too. Those are good recipes to blog about later.
Oh – and have you ever tasted a Peach Donut? No – not something to bake, but they are little flat, round peaches that look just like tiny donuts and they’re very sweet! I got some of those too.
It was what I call a Perfect Peach Orchard Outing with only minimal taunting from the crew re my tendency to panic about wrong roads. The “girls” were loud but patient and somehow refrained from nervous back seat driving and we took the curves with glee, laughing all the way. We had lunch at a sweet little place in Amherst, Virginia, and wound our way home. The noise level went down a few notches as we all told stories and memories of the last peach run.
And now I figure I do exist because my stomach hurts from eating too many peaches and it’s time to plan for apples in the fall.
“I’ll drive!”