Growing up in Michigan, many a beautiful fall weekend involved a trip over to the nearest cider mill. Warm donuts, the churn of loud machinery pressing hundreds of apples into sweet succulent cider, the bees languidly slurping remnants from the rusty garbage pails in the dirt parking lot. The most exciting landmark in the area where I grew up was Yates Cider Mill, a large red barn on the Avon River which even boasts a water wheel at the entranceway. It is 10 minutes from my parents' house, and not one fall season went by without a visit.
Yates serves as the highest standard when it comes to the quintessential cider mill experience, so I understand that I will never find any match for it here in the Chicago area. And there are many more traditions- the charming apple orchard, the playful pumpkin patch- that complete the picture of autumn. I was craving some fall fun outside of the city and was prepared for something different than Yates. Upon the recommendations of friends, we set out this morning for County Line Orchard in Hobart, Indiana.
It was rainy and chilly, but we headed out early to beat the crowd (and hear me out- an overly crowded orchard/cider mill is sometimes worse than not attending one to begin with, in my opinion). The best part was we met up with my sisters- it was a 2 hour drive for them from Kalamazoo, and a one hour drive for us. We didn't take the hay rides out to the orchards and the true pumpkin patches, but instead milled about the entranceway with the piles of gourds and rows of mums. We grabbed ourselves some donuts (apple cinnamon and pumpkin flavored), a bag of apples, and some popcorn to bring home, and later on ate some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in our car with the aunties before parting ways. The place was really starting to fill up as we left, and I can only imagine how busy it gets when the weather is really nice!
Here are our baby pumpkin pics! Today was the first day we put Ellie in this coat that was passed down to us from our friend Christina and her girls. The whole day I kept saying, "Oh my GOD I love that coat! Is that not the most gorgeous coat?" Sometimes I think this baby wears better clothes than me.
Happy FALL! The best time of the year!
Warning- what you are about to see are numerous pictures of the same child set among pumpkins. It may be tedious, but how do you edit down photos of a baby next to pumpkins? It is just not possible.
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