most of my goals for the weekend fell through the cracks except for the Malabar Farms Maple Syrup Festival. Darla and i trekked north during the good weather saturday and we had a good ol’ time revisiting the process of maple syrup. really, i just made it a priority to purchase some more of the syrup because it is so delicious. one taste of real, fresh syrup and you’ll never want to go back to the hfcs substitute.

the view is beautious maximus. can you tell i made darla pose for the second shot?

tractor rides and tickles from evergreen branches

she chose her raccoon socks because they live in the forest and would like maple syrup, so she says.

we cheated on the candy rule and got some cotton candy made from maple syrup. can you tell by her face that she was happy to indulge? she then proceeded to tell strangers that maple syrup is healthy. which we were informed at the festival that it is. it has the lowest calorie content of any of the natural sweeteners and is good for your kidneys if it is pure. more pancakes anyone?

we did enjoy a pancake breakfast on sunday morning to break in our new bottle. i hope we will continue our visit as an annual tradition. it was bittersweet to visit as a twosome this year. i missed our cali friends dearly remembering our experience the previous year. hopefully next year we’ll be able to enlist more of a gang to join us.