Oak Glen NOT Oakland is in the San Bernardino Mountains and is FULL of apple trees.🍏🍎🍏🍎🍏🍎 It has been a popular agricultural spot since the first trees were planted over 100 years ago. Since this small town is around 5,000 feet in elevation, it is known to have four seasons and the landscape reminds many of the Eastern United States. With small, but welcoming vibes, Oak Glen offers a plethora of apple orchards, various shops, restaurants, and bakeries, plus seasonal shows, and festivals.
We enjoyed a jam-packed day full of entertainment, but below are our MUSTS for newbies to the area:
– Oak Tree Mountain – Home to the world-famous Apple Annie’s Mile High Pie, you can eat an all-American meal and finish it off with the biggest apple slice you will ever see. After your meal, you can play with farm animals at their little zoo or participate in some axe throwing AKA therapy. We fell in love with a baby goat at the zoo and if I may pat myself on the shoulder, I was the only one to get an axe to land on the wall. I did miss the target, but I say it counts! Troy beats me in everything, so this was extra gratifying. 😁😁
– Oak Glen Preserve – A free botanic garden where you can wander around the nature trails, take a load off, and/or check out the duck pond.
– Willowbrook Farm – This was hands down our favorite part of the day. We were able to make our own fresh pressed apple cider here. This is quite the process! You must crank the wheel to grind the apples, and once the hopper(bucket) is full of ground apples, you have to press the plate down on top to squeeze out the juice. This may not sound like much, but it takes roughly 40 medium sized apples to yield one gallon of cider. Yes, that’s right, ONE GALLON! Once we had our prized possession, we indulged in the best caramel apple we have ever had. The caramel comes right out of the warmer and you eat it right then and there. #droolworthy
– Snowline Apple Orchard – There is always a line at this place, but it’s worth the wait. They have a store full of apple everything including jams, flavored ciders, wine, and home goods, plus they have homemade apple cider mini donuts. These are TASTY and literally melt in your mouth! 🍩🍩🍩
Oak Glen is an awesome place to spend an adventure filled day, but if you are one that wants to apple pick know that apple season is only August thru November. We were unaware of this, so we missed the U-Pick opportunity. Oak Glen offers U-Pick apples, pumpkins, and berries during the season pending ripeness. We will definitely be heading back this fall to experience this large part of what of Oak Glen has to offer.
On the way out of Oak Glen, we followed various signs to a Lavender Farm. There are many in the surrounding area. Not only are they cool to see, but you can get fresh lavender sachets, lemonade, and lots of body products. Slowing down sometimes is important and the smell of lavender in and of itself can help aid in that. Troy and I really liked the lemonade and lip balm that we picked up!
So…when in the area check out the apples and lavender!
Currently Keeping the Doctor Away,
TnT