Appley Days of Fall

Warm, windy days, chilly crisp nights…fall has finally fallen on Michigan. Or close enough. We are still having some unseasonably warm days here in the mitten, but for the most part, it is the autumn I know and love.

Today was the perfect fall day to go pumpkin hunting. My brother and I have been going to the same apple orchard/pumpkin patch since we were born, basically about 30 years, give or take a few. That is amazing when you think about it! The past ten years or so, the group has lost members and gained a few, such as my husband and his girlfriend, but Devin and I are the constants. The orchard we visit is Erie Orchards, located in, you guessed it, Erie, MI.

Like I said, it was the perfect day, or nearly so anyway. It was a little warmer than I would have liked. I would have loved to wear long sleeves, but then I am that kind of girl, the fall and winter clothes loving one.

Our first order of business was to eat the enormous apple fritters they make there! They are huge gooey doughy wonders. The only thing I didn’t enjoy were the bees that kept landing on my hands and my fritter! After fortifying ourselves with appley goodness, we were ready for the trek back to the pick your own pumpkin patch. As people from the suburbs, this is country living for us.
It was a beautiful walk however. We reveled in the apple trees, my dad and I living up to our shutterbug nicknames and photographing everything we could! Apples, people, dirt even.

Unfortunately, it was a bad pumpkin year this year in Michigan. The patch pumpkins were kind of picked over, the best ones being picked already and taken to the pumpkin barn up front. It was still a nice stroll, so all was not wasted.

So we all trooped back to the front, with thoughts of cider and doughnuts foremost in our thoughts. Sure, we had just eaten that gynourmous fritter, but hey, didn’t we just take a long walk? I am sure we burned off at least a little of that delicous goodness. Billy and I chose our pumpkins, Shellie picked out a few cute tiny ones, and Dad posed for a silly picture. I can always count on him to be the one to pose in the funny cut-outs. By this point it was starting to really get really crowded, so we were ready to buy our stuff and take off. The best time to go is in the morning, around 11 or so, and on a Sunday. By 1 o’clock the place really begins to hop!The store was packed, but we prevailed. This year I only bought a few things, I usually go crazy in the store. Today our purchases (beside the pumpkins) were doughnuts and cider, which I am looking forward to enjoying this evening.

All in all, it was a fantastic day! Pumpkins, doughnuts, cider, a beautiful walk on a gorgeous fall day- what more could anyone ask for? We are going to carve our pumpkins into jack o’lanterns later this week, I can’t wait!