After a Friday night dinner at the Depot and origami entertainment with Mom's friend Beth in Staunton, we headed for the hills, well, really the mountains of Highland County, Virginia. We stayed the night in a cabin owned by our friend, David, and his family. I was so tired when we got there. I said hi to David and the three teenage boys playing cards, unpacked my sleeping bag and crawled in clothes and all. I was done for the day.
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| Intersection in Blue Grass, VA near Puffenbarger's Sugar Orchard |
It was a good thing I got lots of rest because Saturday was jam-packed. We went into Monterrey, the hub of the Highland Maple Festival, a 54-year old event. We ate an early lunch, slurped up a maple milkshake, stashed away some maple candy for later, bought a wooden toy tractor trailer and pop gun (must-have purchases for all festival goers), and dashed off for a sugar camp at noon before we got grid-locked into town for the rest of the afternoon.
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| Sugar Camp?!?! Yeah, we're going!!! |
So let me tell you about what I learned. These are sugar maple trees. I LOVE them because they make lots of sweet yummy sap.
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| Sugar maple trees |
Each year the Puffenbargers roll out 45 miles of plastic tubing and drill 11,000 taps into about 2,000 trees. The sap flows via gravity down the hill to the sugar shack.
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| TALL tree, little me. Clever tap provides the sap. |
The lines were long waiting for the precious maple syrup and donuts,
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| Fierce sentinel |
so I guarded the maple sap collection point with my pop gun while we waited. I wanted to make sure no one came between me and my maple glazed donuts.
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| Mmmmmm...warm maple glazed donuts. |
The wait was worth it. Our wait in line was perfectly timed to receive warm donuts. Oh-my-goodness, they were melt-in-your-mouth divine.
With the sunshine on our backs, donuts for sharing,
and smiles on our faces, we headed back to David's cabin for an ATV ride around the property. I'll tell you about that adventure tomorrow.
