Ok, another very cool experience we have been looking forward to is staying in a Harvest Host location.  We found ourselves in the perfect scenario (need a one night stay to break up a drive) and did it at Hidden Acres Orchards outside of Spokane, WA.  In a neat twist, we were their guests on the first night they had any Harvest Host campers.  So basically, we had our pick of spots in a 60 acre orchard, with only one other camper there.

It did take us a while to find a level spot.  We walked the grounds to figure out a good place to set up, and that was probably smart, but even so our first pick didn’t work out…way too unlevel in every way.  But, we ended up in an even better place, right at the end of rows of apple and apricot trees with peach trees across the way.

The owners were out kayaking when we arrived, but one of the guys who works there came by a little after we got settled to greet us.  He pointed out where all the different fruits were and gave us the most Southern-style welcome we’ve had on the whole trip so far.  

There are wildfires burning a few hours from here, so the setting sun looked completely red through the smoky haze, and as it went down the clouds turned all cotton candy pink, blue and purple.  The kids rode their bikes all around and ran free, and visited the pig, rabbits and Shetland sheep while Dennis and I lounged and had wine.  It was absolutely perfect.  

The next day Dennis went for a run and I did yoga at the end of the peach trees, while Maya made friends with the owners daughter.  Maya was thrilled to have a playmate, especially one who could get her up even closer with the rabbits.  We picked apricots, blackberries (cobbler tonight), peaches that aren’t quite ripe yet (galette in a few days) and tart green apples (fried apples, YUM!). 

We are looking for some more stops on the trip to try out some of the other Harvest Host sites…breweries, wineries and lavender farms are definitely on the list.