Vacations Blog

County Line Orchard

Grab some fall family fun with a day of apple picking at County Line Orchard in Hobart, Indiana. Apple picking is a Midwest fall tradition, with orchards offering sweet delights in Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana. For Chicago families like mine, County Line Orchard in charming Hobart, Indiana, supplies the closest orchard, at about a 40 minute drive from the city. What I love most about County Line is that it’s located in a small farming community that draws families from both Indiana and Illinois. Pick up trucks, corn fields and livestock surround the area for a quick country escape for city slickers.

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Sculpture of Roman Goddess Diana surrounded by a pond

Revel in nature’s fall colors at Brookgreen Gardens Harvest Home Festival on October 24-25.  Enter the scarecrow building contest, try pumpkin painting or opt for hay rides, basket-weaving and pottery demonstrations while listening to live bluegrass music. With the lush Brookgreen Gardens as the setting, your fall vacation will be filled with beauty.  Covered with palmetto trees, hydrangeas and expansive lawns, Brookgreen Gardens resembles a swampy Garden of Eden.

Nestled between Myrtle Beach and Pawley’s Island, the 9,200-acre outdoor museum and National Historic Landmark boasts sculptures, gardens, fountains, marshes, swamps, an aviary and a zoo.  This place is so massive that admission tickets are good for seven consecutive days. I recommend devoting a day to the Harvest Home Festivalactivities and another for the sculpture garden and lowcountry zoo. Read More »

Walking Dixie Land Jazz Band

The quaint Little River Waterfront

As the weather cools and the crowds head home, the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area continues to supply lots of fall cultural activities often unexpected in beach communities.

Kick off your autumn fun with flavorful food and music on October 10-11 at the Shrimp & Jazz Festival in nearby Little River, SC.  Relax on the historic waterfront that once harbored Captain Kidd and Blackbeard and catch sounds like the rollicking Voodoo Flute or follow a strolling Dixieland jazz band.  The music is free flowing and contagious, so expect to see as many people dancing and bopping their heads as you do sampling the seafood goodies.  Read More »

Heaping piles of chicken bog are a festival highlight

Chicken Bog

They say that chicken bog is to South Carolina what Brunswick stew is to North Carolina, which is to say, an intricate part of lowcountry life. Dating back to 17th century Charleston, chicken bog is a savory stew of chicken, rice, onions and sausage spiced with lots and lots of black pepper. The name is supposed to refer to either the lowcountry swamp bogs that the rice grew in or the fact that the dish is bogged down in rice. Read More »

Remember, we aren’t the only travelers out there.  If you’re visiting the beautiful Northwest this fall please watch where you step.

Look up in the sky, they said on the radio station.
They’re up quite high, flying in a V formation.

Here come the geese!
Here come the geese!

Now they’re on lawns, the patios and ponds, on the sidewalks
on the rooftops, on the hillside, on the playground slide, in the shadows,
the parking lots, the meadows, the fences and ledges,
benches and hedges,in the schoolyard, on the boulevard,
in the high school halls, in the shopping malls.
Watch under your feet,they said on the radio station

-Barenaked Ladies

For more family-friendly travel photos visit DeliciousBaby’s Photo Fridays.

Photo by W. Honea