Apple Festival

If I could pick absolutely any place to live, with no strings attached, I am pretty sure Bayfield WI would be on my list of best choices.  I love that town!  It’s so beautiful, small and unique.  We zipped over there on Sunday after church to watch the Apple Festival Parade.  Both times we’ve gone to the apple festival, we have had so much fun, and both times we felt like we needed more time there.  We’re thinking about ways to make that work next year.

The Apple Festival Parade is probably one of my favorite parades ever.  It is packed full of marching bands, big and small.  And I LOVE marching bands.  I get very emotional about marching bands. In fact, they make me tear up.  I love the small marching bands from tiny schools best.  I’m always so happy they are participating, and I love that they have to use all sorts of kids of all ages to get enough instruments for their band.  I even love that they don’t sound very polished. I cheer loudly for them!  At the end of the Apple Festival Parade, all the bands from Wisconsin march again down the parade route en masse, playing “On Wisconsin.”  You can’t live in Wisconsin even for a short time without appreciating that song.  People in Wisconsin are so passionate about it!  In Marshfield during the summer outdoor community band concerts, each week people would get up and dance to “On Wisconsin.”  The logistics of coordinating so many kids marching and playing the song at one time is really amazing to watch.  Yay music teachers!

The parade is also full of all sorts of very, very unique floats and other entries.  It is a joy to watch.  Every year we learn something about watching it, however.  Last year we learned to watch from the side of the street that has its back to the sun.  (We got headaches from squinting).  This year we were on the right side of the street, but ended up sitting down on a patch of asphalt next to a large, smelly garbage can on one side and an apple orchard stand on the other selling carmel apples on a stick.  During the parade people kept standing in front of us and we missed a lot of things.  Not all of them were buying carmel apples.  Some people just parked themselves in front of us for no apparent reason.  It was frustrating, but we tried (not always successfully) to be patient.  Next year it is my goal to be on the shady side of the street and not next to a garbage can and apple stand.

Mr. Sneaky Pants caught a new white T-Shirt that someone threw down from a float.  The back of the shirt advertises a foam insulation company.  He was beyond thrilled to get the shirt, and had to wear it immediately.  It’s a bit large, but that doesn’t phase him one bit, of course.

Sitting next to the apple stand made the kidlets crazy for their own carmel apple on a stick.  After trying to distract them after the parade by other sights and places, we finally obliged.  They had to share, but the apple was pretty tasty, so I’m told.

We also bought a bag of honey gold apples because we’d never had them before.  They are crisp and yummy, a bit more tart than our absolute favorite apple:  honeycrisp.  Because the kidlets were getting thirsty, we also got a jug of fresh pressed apple cider.  It is delicious.  The kidlets guzzled down half of it immediately.

They were extremely excited about drinking a large quantity of “juice,” which is not something they often have the opportunity to do.  The real fun began when they were finished.  You should have seen the sugar buzz!  Amazing.  They were literally running around in circles.  It was crazy.  Since things were dying down at Apple Festival, we decided to head back to our car and drive to a beach on the south shore to watch the sunset.  Dr. Peds had to park the car in what had to have been the farthest corner of Bayfield, I think, at the very tip top of the extremely steep hill.  It was quite a climb to get back to our vehicle, but a beautiful one, because Bayfield is just so picturesque:  neat old houses, amazing trees, and wonderful views of Lake Superior and The Apostle Islands every time you turn.  The air was chilly, and the sun was shining through the orange and yellow trees.  Aaaahhh!  The long, steep, steep incline wore down the kidlets just enough so that they could get in the car for a short trip to the beach without driving us berserk (except that Squirmy was in the midst of a crying fit because he had to sit in his carseat instead of being held and snuggled.)