Harper's Ferry Hike, Apple Picking

We went out to pick apples about 1.5 hours from our house in Virginia at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and we realized Avery got to visit WV on the trip for the first time ever.  We went to Marker Miller Orchards in Winchester, VA.  One of the best things about the orchard was that they made cider donuts!  Avery loved chewing on them

And so did we, we bought a dozen and they were gone by the end of the day.  Before we went picking Avery enjoyed playing in the playground area

Raul and Ally joined us and we got some good photos in

And Raul loved helping Avery pick apples from the tree

Avery also loved running up and putting apples in the bag

Of course she loved eating them too

We picked a wide variety of apples and enjoyed walking through the orchard finding the different types that were ready for picking

We also got a pumpkin and we let Avery pick it out

After picking apples, we drove back through Harper's Ferry, WV which is about 60 minutes from our house.  It is a the far corner of WV where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers converge.  It was a mill town in the Civil War where they made lots of ammunition.  It got devastated in the war, and got flooded a few times, and now is mostly a tourist area due to the old buildings, little shops, and surrounding scenery.

The surrounding terrain is very neat and there are even train tunnels coming right out from the hills across the river into town.


View of Harper's Ferry train tunnels, we did not take this picture!

It's hard to believe this is only 50 miles from our house, it seems a world away from DC.  There is a neat hike on the Maryland side that we took called the Maryland Heights Trail.  We parked by the river and walked along the old C&O Canal Tow Path to get to the trail head

The hike climbs 1600 vertical feet and then back down a bit to a look out point above town.

The next shots are good, but too bad the iPhone didn't take as good of quality:

Avery rode in the backpack and loved signing in her daddy's ear the whole way up

We hiked back down and before we headed home we put our feet in the clear water of the Potomac