An apple a day or Cat comes to lunch.

Don decided that Stephanie and the boys should experience the Apple Capital of Texas today.  He also thought Stephanie should experience Highway 16!  She was almost car sick when we got to Medina and she was the driver!

When we parked at the Apple Store for lunch, we spotted this sign down the road.  Papa Don is what his Grands call him.

We were all starving very hungry, so the priority was ordering lunch.  After placing our order, we found a picnic style table and sat down to wait for our food.  Suddenly, we had a guest at our table and before we knew what was happening….

Calico hopped up on the table and headed right toward Don!!

But she wasn’t welcome at our table, so she moved on to our “neighbors.”  “Look, Daddy, a kitty!”  Noticing the sawdust on the floor, we decided that we should probably watch our step. :-)

Taylor is about to enjoy the only reason I wanted to go to the Apple Store…. apple ice cream!!!  It was a hit with the boys.

This plaque caught my eye.

We could have dined outside, but we chose to eat inside, however, there was not air conditioning; only fans.  We did enjoy our ice cream out here, though.

A view of the tribute to the Medina apple history.

Before leaving the Apple Store, we got directions to the Love Creek Orchard where we met the owner.   He purchased the orchard in 1990 and now there are over 15,000 apple trees.  Presently, his best business is selling Maple trees and the apple orchard is more like a hobby.  We were wishing we had a place to plant a Maple tree as they have the most vivid colors in the fall.  I asked him how many employees he had to work the orchard and he said, “About twice as many as I really need, but I just hate to lay them off because there’s no work anywhere else for them.”  What a compassionate spirit.

We stopped by the Camp Verde General Store on the way back to the Q and the bougainvillea hanging on the front veranda were so pretty.

We got a package in the mail today!!  Our friend from Michigan, Dave Sutton, sent us this cross that he made for our ‘yard’ to show that we believe that America is still a Christian nation.

Dave, you did a great job.  Thank you very much!!  We love it.