I'm sure that it wouldn't come as a shock to anyone to know that Autumn is my favorite time of year. Now that I have a little family of my own for the last few years we have started our own fall traditions. As you might have guessed our fall adventures are packed full of apple picking, pumpkins picking, and hikes. These are the last attempts at utilizing being outside before the winter comes. Make no mistake, Winter IS Coming! Plus who doesn't want to bask in the amazingness of nature this time of year. To see the transition of autumnal colors throughout the hills of our little part of the Appalachian Mountains. Call me a basic bitch, but I love it. I'll even drink a pumpkin spice latte or two even! Although truth be told I'm more of a salted caramel mocha girl. Without further digression...
I get asked a lot when posting to my personal Instagram about the locations of the places we go. So here's my blog noting the locations of our favorite places. All these places are within an hour drive, or less, from our town. We start in September with a lil apple picking.
An apple a day will...keep COVID away (not really). Our first activity once the weather starts to turn to cooler breezes and the leaves start changing is a trip to Gardners Apple Farm. They are located in Troy PA and have a huge variety of apples. They have everything from gala, red delicious, red, and well red apples. I'm not a huge expert on apples, but they are! Each row of apples is marked and don't be afraid to ask for a map. They also will give you a little insight on which apples are best for baking, sauces etc. If you don't really feel like picking your own apples never fear! They have lots of already picked bags of apples ready to go for you. BUT apples isn't all they offer! They also offer horse dawn wagon rides through the orchard, as well as cider and other apple themed goodies. Gardners LLC is a small town small family owned business and is a staple of the beginning of fall activities.
2. The beginning of October is when our Autumn activities get a little more serious. Each weekend is planned out with finding ways to enjoy the last bit of warm days. If you don't know what a PA winter is like, the temperature doesn't reach higher than 20 ° fahrenheit. Which is by no means as cold as other places, but cold enough. The first week of October we like to spend at none other than the PA Grand Canyon located in Wellsboro PA. No, this canyon is nothing like the Grand Canyon National Park which is basically a desert. Our Grand Canyon is nestled within the Northern Appliation Mountains, with wonder views, hikes, bike paths and of course trees! So many gorgeous trees that you can witness changing their colors. It's a natural technicolor of reds, oranges, and yellows. There are two main entrances to get into the canyon and each has it's own path and overlooks. We prefer the Barbour Rock Trail. It's a quick but splendid hike and the difficulty is very low. Which is great for the little ones who just can't walk that far. As a fun activity for kids, speaking of those little buggers, finding the most unique and colorful leaves and collecting them is one of our favorite projects. To add a little more fun, take wax paper and crayons or colored pencils, and do some colorful etching. If you find yourself in Wellsboro PA, do yourself a favor and find yourself to the PA Grand Canyon, especially if you happen to be here in the fall. You won't regret it.
3. If the movie Children of the Corn didn't steer you from Corn fields forever, our next place to do shouldn't bring back horrifying flashbacks of an evil Mordecai lurking in the stalks. Hopefully you've guessed what it is by now. A corn maze!! This is clearly a straight up country thing to do and we are proud of it! This year we found a local small farm that lended their field for a fun family experience and made a corn maze. Each weekend, for the two weekends it ran, had it's own theme. We chose to go on the superhero themed weekend. Did my kids dress in their DC superhero costumes excited to be there....nope. But it was great to see everyone running the maze dressed for the occasion. This wonderful field is called Millers Maze located at Columbia Crossroads PA on Somperton Rd. A running dairy farm that takes the weekend to host this family friendly event. Aside from the corn maze itself are tractor rides, fresh donuts, cider, food from other local farms, lots of games for the kiddos to play in, and on the day we were there they had a helicopter fly in for the kids to view. Which by the way both my boys loved. They were also super generous to give our kids free pumpkins with purchase of admission to the maze. It's $5 per person, and kiddos 3 and under are free. This is the second year the maze has been running, and we hope to see it again next year!
4. Our final destination of our Autumn activity list is our longest standing tradition. The trip to pick our pumpkins at Smithome Farms Pumpkin Patch located in Big Flats NY. They are a small family owned farm (can you sense a theme here). Where we live we are right along the NY border and have found our favorite place to search for our chosen pumpkins. Along with the pumpkin patch, where you really get to pick a pumpkin off the ground from the vine, there's other fun activities as well. There's a corn maze, lots of pumpkin/Autumn themed photo ops, tractor hay rides, our favorite homemade donuts, cider, and smaller games for younger kiddos. There's no admission to the pumpkin patch. Just grab a wagon and stroll through the patch looking for the pumpkin that's meant to be the Halloween companion for you family. But like the apple farm if you don't really want to go through the mud and dirt searching for a pumpkin, they have done the work for you and you can pick from the already harvested pumpkins. There's even a little house with shelves lined with the mini pumpkins. Also, one last note about the location of this pumpkin patch. It located very near to the airport. With that you will always see, at least we have, the glider planes soaring above the patch. Just another little highlight for the kids to ooh and ahh over.
5. Now the last place for fall activities isn't one that's a whole family kinda place. But, since it's local, meaning within an hour drive of our home, For those adults that love a good scare, or just a good local "haunt" look no further than your local scary house at Tagsylvania located also in Big Flats NY. Literally just down the road from the pumpkin patch. Tags has been hosting this ghastly haunted premises for almost a decade. There's several haunted attractions as well as extras such as psychic readings and photos with the headless horseman himself!
6. Last, but not least (a shameless plug). Another activity that's geared towards the adults is the Carnival of Stouts at Yorkholo Brewing Company located in Mansfield PA. For one night only a traveling circus comes to town turning this family friendly(on any other day) establishment into their own pub. The whole place changes with circus tent, lights, the staff become scary clowns and the highlight of it all the stouts! If you're into craft beer and love a stout this even won't disappoint. With past flavors such as PB&J, blueberry, mushroom, banana etc it's not your average flavored stouts. This is an annual event, and has been running the last 5 years.
There you have it ladies and gents! My mostly family friendly list of our favorite places to visit during Autumn. Not every visit with our kids has been picture perfect with giant Joker sized smiles, but it is memorable and our kids look forward to doing these activities every year. Take lots of pictures, but don't forget to live in the moment making memories for a lifetime. Happy fall y'all, and solstice, Halloween, and of course Samhaim!
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