The Full Nest: Summertime

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Summertime

Summer vacation finally arrived for me this week (well if you don't count sneaking into the library a few times to take care of some unfinished tasks). As is our tradition we are enjoying living so close to everything with a Staycation.

noun

a vacation spent at home or near home, doing enjoyable activities or visiting local attractions.

We have several things planned that will let us enjoy the luxury of sleeping in our own beds each night.

First up was a drive to Ripon. I cannot tell you the number of times I have passed this town as we drove down 99 on our way to Somewhere Else but I can't remember ever actually venturing into it's city limits. It's nickname is The Jewel of the Valley and aptly so. The downtown area, where our errand took us, is filled with small eateries mixed into that Mayberryish type of main street. The people we came in contact with were very friendly and I think we will plan a return visit soon to explore a little more of the area.

Today's outing was almost a "fruitless" endeavor because we had procrastinated a bit. Even though we have lived in the heart of farm country for decades, we only started visiting U-picks in the last few years, choosing instead to get our fresh commodities from the Farmer's Market. But we discovered the fun of picking our own fruit and couldn't wait to have a free morning to get out to the local farm this morning.

Our quest today was blackberries. Unfortunately we had waited too late in the season. We drove to several recommended farms but couldn't find any with berries still on the bush. We were not going to be thwarted though, and kept looking until we finally found a U-pick that still had unpicked vines. These berries were so sweet and we are looking forward to using them in a cobbler.