Cooler weather and lower prices make autumn an ideal time for a family getaway. If you’re looking to do something as a family but need to work within the school calendar, check out these ideas for single-day adventures.
Leaf-Peeping: The bright palette of changing leaves in the fall is sure to wow everyone in your family, although you’ll probably need to combine it with another activity (see below for ideas) to keep the kids interested and entertained.
While New England is most famous for its spectacular color show, the mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, and even spots in Utah and California all offer incredible viewing as well. Prime leaf peeping season ranges from early September in the North to as late as late October or early November in the South. To know when to go, be sure to check foliage reports. The Foliage Network, which collects data from foliage spotters twice a week from September through November, is a good resource. You can also check out the Forest Service’s website or call its Fall Color Hotline at (800) 354-4595. Additionally, YankeeFoliage.com offers a useful interactive foliage map of New England.
If you want to check out the leaves other than by car or foot, check out local options for family-friendly rock climbing tours, bike paths and tours, gondola rides, hot air balloons, or foliage trains.
To continue the fun past your day trip, have the kids pick some of their favorite leaves to bring home and try making one of these fun fall crafts from Kaboose.com:
Pick-Your-Own Farms: Only about a hundred times more fun than the produce aisle of your local supermarket, the chance to pick your own apples and pumpkins shouldn’t be missed. Kids will enjoy selecting their own apples for yummy fall foods like applesauce, apple butter and apple pie, as well as pumpkins for their own lanterns. You can find a fairly comprehensive list of apple-picking spots and pumpkin patches throughout the U.S. and Canada at pickyourown.org and pumpkinpatchesandmore.org, respectively. Many farms also offer tasty treats for sale like fresh apple cider, jams, cider donuts, and baked goods And, if you’re close to Vermont, you may want to do your apple picking there, as all of Vermont’s 24 pick-your-own orchards are participating in an “Apples to iPods” contest, which rewards apple pickers who find wooden apples hidden in the trees with an iPod Nano, Shuffle, or Touch.
If you’re looking to up the excitement quotient, look for a farm that offers hay rides or a corn maze. Many corn mazes are now themed, forming an aerial picture of anything from a pirate ship, to a safari, to knights and dragons. Completing the maze may take anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours, and may include bridges, tunnels, and slides. Some are even patrolled by guides who can offer you hints or other help as necessary. To find a corn maze near you, check out cornmaze.com or cornfieldmaze.com.
Fall Festivals: Festivals of all kinds, from agricultural to craft-themed, take place in fall, many of them with family-friendly events. A few highlights from the world of fall festivals:
• If you’re in the New England area, the Pumpkin Festival in Keene, New Hampshire is a single-day festival packed with a pumpkin seed spitting contest, a pie eating contest, a parade, entertainment, fireworks, and pumpkin carving. The festival set the world record for greatest number of pumpkins carved in 2003 with 28,952 jack-o’-lanterns!
• The Big E, New England’s six-state fair is held for two weeks in September and features a circus, a parade, big name musical acts, and the festival’s signature dessert, The Big E Cream Puff.
• The National Apple Harvest Festival takes place near historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the first two weekends in October. Some of the fun includes tractor square dancing, chainsaw carving, apple syrup making, puppet shows, a petting zoo, live entertainment, and 300+ arts and crafts vendors.
• If your kids are a fan of all things creepy and crawly, you may want to check out the Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk, North Carolina. The festival, which takes place on the third weekend of October, features woolly worm races, crafts, food, games, and music.
• The St. Charles Scarecrow Festival in St. Charles, Illinois is held over Columbus Day weekend. It features 100+ scarecrows and plenty of fun kids’ activities like face painting, a petting zoo, a carnival, storytelling, and a special make-your-own scarecrow session.
• There’s nothing like a hot meal on a cool autumn day, which is one of the reasons we love Chowderfest at the Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut over Columbus Day weekend. The festival features several different varieties of chowder and seasonal treats as well as storytelling, clam art, and nineteenth-century children’s games.
• If you like German food and drink (and lots of it), you’ll love Oktoberfest. Although there are Oktoberfest celebrations throughout the world, the second largest to the original Munich festival is the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest in the twin cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The largest Oktoberfest in the U.S. is the Oktoberfest Zinzinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio.
To find a local festival that appeals to your family, go to your state’s official tourism website.
Boo at the Zoo: If your kids are animal lovers, check out Halloween-themed activities at your local zoo. Zoos throughout the U.S. and Canada host all kinds of Halloween-themed events, ranging from a single evening to several weekends of celebration. Kids are often invited to come in costume and participate in everything from face painting and trick-or-treating to getting a closer look at zoos’ creepier, crawlier residents, watching elephants smash pumpkins, or polar bears bob for pumpkins.
Theme Parks: There’s no need to wait for October 31 to celebrate Halloween, when amusement parks across North America offer the chance to trick-or-treat and get spooked (or just silly) long before then. Here are a few of our favorite ways to get a jump on Halloween:
• Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pennsylvania offers the Count’s Spooktacular Halloween on weekends from the end of September until the end of October.
• Disney World in Orlando, Florida presents Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party through September and October and features a special parade and fireworks.
• Six Flags offers Fright Fest in parks across the US on October weekends. Daytime Halloween activities are more kid-friendly than those after dark; activities and entertainment vary by location.
Ski Resorts: Before gearing up for the ski season, many ski resorts now have loads of outdoor adventures available throughout the summer and into October, according to Suzanne Rowan Kelleher, co-founder and Editor-in Chief of WeJustGotBack.com, a family travel website. If alpine slides, zip lines, scenic chairlift rides above the foliage, mountain biking, and more appeals to your family, check out what’s available in the off-season at your favorite ski resort. As Kelleher explains, “It gets people outdoors, it’s unplugged, and there’s something for everyone.”
Wine Tasting: If you’re exhausted after celebrating fall with your kids and need a little time with other adults, autumn is a terrific time of year for wine tasting and learning about the art of winemaking (and perhaps witnessing the harvest and the crush!). While California wines may be the best known of North American wines, you don’t need to head to Napa or Sonoma to taste great vino. Washington, New York, and Oregon are all great wine producers as well. Other smaller wine-producing regions are spread throughout the U.S. and Canada; you might be surprised to find wineries close to home.
Whether you prefer white or red, Merlot or Muscadine, North Carolina’s wineries and vineyards will have the perfect pairing for your taste buds. Come explore the scenic beauty of NC wine country, taste the fruits of their vineyards, and stay for a picnic or perhaps some live music. From the mountains to the coast to the vast Yadkin Valley, North Carolina has a wine experience that will keep you coming back.
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