Monday, September 27, 2010

Cider Mill Crawl 2010

If you don't know what a cider mill crawl is... check out last year's post:  http://lovestonom.blogspot.com/2009/10/cider-mill-crawl.html

For more pictures of this year's crawl, check out Molly's blog post: http://myhappycasa.blogspot.com/2010/09/2nd-annual-cider-mill-prep-recap.html

Cider Mill #1:
Plymouth Orchards-  This was last year's winner so we decided to keep it in the rotation and add 2 other local mills.  I like this place.  It has a nice store, large seating area inside, hayrides, animal farm, cut outs to stick your head thru, and delicious donut and cider.

Cider Mill #2:
Wiard's-  This was easily our least favorite place.  However, this is the only one of the 3 that offered pasteurized cider for the preggos and their plain donuts were very cakey.  Plus they had a DIY caramel apple bar!  But the store was a maze and we had to walk like a million miles from the parking lot.  Plus you had to pay for all the added activities on the grounds.

Cider Mill #3:
Apple Charlie's:  Their freshly fried plain donuts are super delicious.  Nice crunch outside and warm and fluffy on the inside.  They had lots of crazy animals on their farm (like an ostrich) and they had face painting and tons of other food like hot dogs.  Parking was annoying and it was very busy with children everywhere.

Here are the results:
We voted 1-5 for the overall experience of the mill, then 1-10 each for donuts and cider for a potential score of 25 points.  There were 5 people voting so a perfect score would be 125.

Overall score:  Apple Charlie's 104, Plymouth 103, Wiard's 83
WINNER:  Apple Charlie's, new champion by 1 point!

Donut score:  Apple Charlie's 46, Plymouth 41, Wiard's 34
WINNER:  Apple Charlie's

Cider score:  Apple Charlie's 43, Plymouth 41, Wiard's 34
WINNER:  Apple Charlie's

Experience score:  Apple Charlie's 15, Plymouth 22, Wiard's 17
WINNER:  Plymouth




Mmmm first taste at Plymouth

Molly and Katie....

....sampling the goodies

Cute group shot... Monica, Stephanie, Me, Molly, Katie

Yes it is sideways.... Baby H's first trip to a cider mill! haha

Molly thinks tractors are the best.



Katie laughing with a mouthful of donut at Wiard's

Group shot at Wiard's (missing me)

I made little shopping bags for us....yes I am a dork.

Molly was fascinated with the donut maker at Apple Charlie's

Molly's tablescape.... isn't she awesome at this?


We had salad for lunch.... last year we had lunch then did the crawl then had dinner then did the donut tasting.... BAD IDEA

Awwww so cute!

I think I still prefer Plymouth Orchard and Cider Mill in all 3 categories, but majority rules!  I can't wait until next year's crawl!!!  We were already planning for next year while scarfing down the donuts this year =)  Thanks girls for making this year's crawl super fun!!!  Love you all.