Stephanie and I love living in Atlanta for many reasons. We have so many great opportunities for activities in town, from art museums to historic sites, and there’s always a new international restaurant to try. We’re also close to so many great places in the outheast that we have a huge variety of day trip and long weekend options. This time of year, we love taking as many trips as possible to the mountains in Northeast Georgia to see the changing leaves. While we’re up there we always stop by some of the vineyards and orchards.  October is the perfect time for apple picking, and we can never get enough apple goodies!

Mercier Orchards

Mercier Orchards is one of the best orchards for apple picking that we’ve ever been to! In fact, we’ve visited year round for strawberry and blueberry picking. It’s located in Blue Ridge just an hour and a half north of Atlanta, and visiting in the fall has become a tradition for us. They have almost forty different apple varieties. Their bakery and shop is just as impressive as their expansive orchard. We always come home with a gallon or two of their fresh cider and at least a  dozen of their fried pies. Try their blackberry and pecan pies as well as the classic apple pies!

Mercier Orchard is really, really busy on the weekend, so you might want to get there early. I love pulling up to their orchard in the morning when the fog is still lifting and the sun is starting to shine on the farm. It’s especially magical once the leaves start to change!

BJ Reece Orchard

Stephanie’s family recently visited BJ Reece Orchard in Elijay, just a little closer to Atlanta. Here’s what her oldest sister, Melissa, had to say about their gorgeous fall day of apple picking.

“BJ Reece Orchard has ‘pick your own apples’ during the week. Carey [Stephanie’s niece] said Reece had the best petting zoo she has ever been to. It had baby cows, lots of goats, kittens, puppies, rabbits, and pigs. It was $3 for the petting zoo and $2 for the apple picking, plus whatever you picked. You can do the activities a la carte or the have packages, too. We really liked walking through the orchard and picking the apples knowing they were fresh. They had jams, jellies, cider, apple pastries, veggies, pumpkins and of course apples at the store.”

Hillcrest Orchard

They also visited Hillcrest Orchard in Elijay. It was similar to the first two in many ways, but it also had amazing apple slushies!

There are so many great destinations for day trips out of Atlanta, and picking apples is so quintessentially fall. Have you been apple picking? What are some of your favorite orchards to visit? What do you make with the apples you get?

Meagan Martz at A Friend Afar

Meagan grew up in the North Georgia Mountains and spent her first trip abroad in Italy. She’s been traveling all over the world ever since, learning Spanish, Japanese, and Thai. She travels for the food, the culture, and the history.