Boats, Apple Picking and Ice Cream

This weekend was bound to be a happy one because it was prime for our Friday night date night in the city. It was my turn to plan the date since the last one was our Potted Potter outing which Scott planned. I’d fretted over it all week and finally decided we’d go to the National Harbor in MD, just across the river from DC to have some fun. The website said they had paddle boats and that was the major attraction for me. It was also the beginning of Oktoberfest activities and we thought it would be funny to watch all the drunk people since we ourselves don’t drink.

When we arrived at the National Harbor our first task was finding the paddle boats. After about an hour of wandering the piers and the streets we learned paddle boat season ended earlier in the month. It was a tough blow but all that wandering had made us hungry so we then set our minds to finding an affordable dining spot. We settled on Thai Palace, a little ways off the beaten path but it did not disappoint. Great spring rolls and some of the best Pad Thai Scott has had in a while. I ate a dish called Pad Mee Chicken which was very good.

It was getting dark and late after dinner so we went home to finish the evening watching our BYU Cougars beat Middle Tennessee State in Football. Go Cougs!

Saturday morning we went back up to MD to participate in a training hike of 16 miles with some of Scott’s coworkers. They are planning and training for a 50K walk/hike on October 26. We started in the back of the pack but over the course of a few miles we were in the front. We also weren’t able to complete the whole walk since we had other plans for the day so we only put in 12 miles but our feet and legs hurt like it was more.

Next on the agenda was going to an orchard to pick apples! This is something I’ve always wanted to do but never have and now I have! We drove 2 hours away (from the C&O canal portion we walked) and literally hobbled around the orchard. Not only did we pick a peck of apples for $9 but we bought a jar of homemade apple butter from the local Lion’s Club and a half gallon of pure apple cider. As we packed the car we joked that if we got in an accident the car would smell delicious. We drove back without any incident.

yummy, yummy Ida Red apples

Our last stop before going home was the Moo Thru, a local dairy farm operated creamery. I got some of the most amazing pumpkin ice cream and I mixed that with some of the best dark chocolate ice cream I’d ever had. All in all it was a scrumptious mixture of flavors and I was in ice cream heaven. Scott got a really creative mix of lemon cookie ice cream (really tasty) and sweet cream ice cream. We were both very happy after eating it and left wanting more.

(photo curtesy of www.moothru.com)