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The HighLine was built by the New York City Railroad between 1929 and 1934 to eliminate the dangers of street level city rail traffic. The elevated trains carried meats, produce and dairy to warehouses and factories at the third floor level and the route became known as the "Life Line of New York".
In 1999 a group of community residents rallied to safe the decaying structure. Today the HighLine is an urban oasis along Manhattan's West Side. The elevated track is now a city park winding its way through the trendy Chelsea and Meat Packing District where apartments go for between 2 and 20 million USD. It's tracks still remain but are now part of a mixed surface of wood, concrete and stone walk ways surrounded by lush green areas filled with grass, flowers, fountains, art installations and viewing platforms allowing visitors great views down many of the cities streets.
We started at W 34th street. The path looped along the Henry Hudson Parkway until it went up W 30th St. We followed it all the way to the end at Gansevoort Street where we had a delicious lunch in the Gansevoort Market before making the track back to W 34th street. Its a great venue to relax and enjoy on a summer day.
An apple a day ..... Keeps the doctor away or so goes the saying and after the 33lbs of Apples picked at Tougas Family Farm in Northborough I'll be eating at least one a day for a while. Apple picking is one of those must do things in the fall and its always a fun experience.
With the variety of farms in the area we selected Tougas Family Farm because of the variety of apples they grow, the reputation they have, and the proximity to where we live. Its a quick simple ride and right off the highway in Shrewsbury, MA. It was also named one of the Ten Best Apple Orchards in Country by Woman's Day and one of the Ten Best pick your own apples by USA Today.
They have a huge parking lot clearly labeled which is a good thing since the crowd of people we saw when we arrived was shocking since we had arrived early. There were already significant lines to gain entry into the orchards through their small red barn. We lined up with everyone else and the mood seemed energetic and with the sun shining brightly why not be excited to enjoy the fresh air and some great apples.
At 10:00 sharp the doors opened and the lines seemed to move quickly with each group picking the size back they would fill. There were two options a Peck ~ 10lbs was $25 and allowed up to 4 people into the orchard or a 1/2 Bushel ~ 20lbs for $35 which allowed up to 6 people into the orchard.The idea was that you could pick as many apples that will fit in the bag they gave you. The larger back was significantly bigger then the small and since we planned to make a few pies we selected the 1/2 bushel. After paying we made our way through the gates to the orchard.
The apples that were ready to be picked were on the far side of the orchard and you had two options to get there. By tractor pulled cart or by foot. Since everyone else was in line to take the tractor we decided to walk. As we made our way to the picking area we walked through row after row of apple trees. Each and every row was labeled with the type of apple being grown. That made it easy for lay people like us to figure out which apples we should pick. Also helpful was the chart on the side of our bag telling us which apples were best for eating and which were best for baking.
There were several types of apples ripe for the choosing and they included Jonagold, Empire, McIntosh, Macoun, Crimson Crisp, Fuji, Gala, Cortland, Mutsu, and Honeycrisp. As we wandered the rows of apples looking for those perfect specimen's to add to our apple pies we sampled as many of the different apples as we could. Some with sweet while others tart. some were juicy and others more dry. I loved the Honeycrisp's as they were described as explosively juicy. We tried to stick to the guidelines for what apples made good pies while picking and it didn't take long before we had a full bag and full stomachs.
Again we had the option to ride back to the barn by tractor or walk. We stuck to walking and it felt much longer a trip on the way back with a bag about ready to explode with apples. Once we cleared the gate of the orchard we put them in the car and returned to the small village of barns for some home made apple cider doughnuts and fresh apple cider.
I love apple cider doughnuts and these certainly didn't disappoint. The apple cider was equally as good and refreshing. Once done we walked through the other buildings admiring the pies for sale before heading out ourselves. They also had a complementary apple recipe packet for anyone to take. You can download it here.
After a great day picking apples it was time to bake some pies. We purchased 6 ready made pie crusts by Pillsbury and enough sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour as necessary. Once home we began the long process of peeling, cutting, coring our apples. Well it wasn't really that hard since we had the right tool that did it all for us. All we had to do was crank and then cut up the spiral but apples.
Then we combined sugar mix which is a ratio of 1/2 cup flour with 1 tbsp. of flour and 1/2 tbsp. of cinnamon and 1/2 tbsp. of nutmeg. Once thoroughly combined we coated our apples liberally in the mixture. That sugar coated apple combination we then stacked generously into our pie plates creating a nice mountain of apples. Next we rolled the second pie crust on top and using our thumbs and forks we sealed the two crusts together. We also added some vents to the top of the pie to let it breath. In the old days you would use a pie bird to let the steam out.
We placed our three pies in the oven art 350-degrees for about an hour and tested bu putting a knife into our apples they should be tender and soft. That was it we made three pies and had left over apples from that 33lbs bag of local farm grown apples. we couldn't wait to sink our forks into a slide with some vanilla ice cream on the side. They were delicious.
After a roughly 1.5 hour ride from home we finally arrived at our destination. Named for the river we would be rafting down Farmington River Tubing is located in the town of New Hartford in a small wooded state parked called Satan's Kingdom State Recreation area. After parking amongst the trees we stepped up to ticket booth where we signed waivers and paid the small $20 rental fee. 
The rental includes a river tube, life jacket, a shuttle bus ride back to Satan's Kingdom from the take-out point as well as lifeguards at the 2nd set of rapids. They also require a deposit to ensure you return the equipment and they accept car keys which worked out well since you don't want them getting wet. 
For our river rafting adventure the river was running smoothly with a water flow of 370cfs and an average water temp of 56-degrees. Given the mid 90-degree temperature and sunny skies the refreshing water was a perfect way too cool down. It would be considered a Class I River since the cfs was below 800.
After collecting a life jacket and river tube from the mountain or tubes in the pile we made our way down a small hill to the rivers edge where we one at a time entered the water. from the rocky shoreline. Refreshing it certainly was. Once we were all in our tubes we allowed the river current to pull us down river. It wasn't long before we reached the first of the rapids which was just before the Route 44 bridge. 
We enjoyed the serenity of the river for a little while before reaching the second set of rapids They are the largest and everyone should expect to get wet going through this section of river. Given the more aggressive nature of this set of rapids they have a couple life guards stationed to help any rafters who might get into any trouble. 
Once past the second set you casually float along the river for a while floating along with many other rafters dotting the river. As we made our way we passed a rocky out cropping where a small group had set up camp and where having what appeared to be a BBQ. They were launching themselves off the rocks into the cool refreshing waters and clearly having a great time. 
They didn't appear to have Farmington River Tubes and it appears that you can lunch a tube on your own should you want to. As we continued on we took a break along the rocky shore to take a few photos with the beautiful scenery behind us.
A short distance farther down river was the third set up rapids. The river was wider then the last two sets of rapids but appeared shallower and as a result the rapids slightly more rough. I nearly flipped when I passed over one rock and came down into a wave it was a blast.
As we wrapped up the third set up rapids we traveled along the river to a fork where you could go left or right. We decided to go left since a large group of rowdy kids where going right. The water level here was very shallow and we could feel the rocks below us rubbing. Once we joined back together we could tell that our side was a shorter distance since we had increased the distance between us and the other group. 
The water here was moving fairly slow and you could just lean back and enjoy the sun and scenery. about a third of a mile father down was our take-out location denoted with a red inner tube suspended in a tree. We also found ourselves trying to come ashore with a large flock of swans who seemed less interested in us then we were in them.
Once ashore we made our way to one of the dark blue busses and loaded both ourselves and our tubes neatly inside. Seats on the left and the right for the tubes to line up. It was a short ride back to Satan's Kingdom where we turned in our rafts and retrieved our car keys. After a quick dry off we were on our way.
The experience is advertised as 2.5 mile ride down the wild and scenic Farmington River with three sets of rapids. I really enjoyed the relaxing nature of the river most it was a nice way to de-stress and cool off on a hot summers day. The rapids added a bit of excitement that made the entire experience a blast. I would recommend Farmington River Rafting to anyone looking to have fun outdoors on a hot summer day. Suitable for ages 10+ and those comfortable in the water since you are mostly on your own. The water depth stays fairly shallow and occasionally you do rub along the river bed. (no white swim trunks). 
