Guys. Fall is upon us.

You can choose to see the bright side of it – it’s time to get cozy! – or you can cry inside knowing that fall is only a starter, an antipasti, an amuse-bouche before the “main course” – our beloved Chicago winter – hits us and never leaves until May.

Those that know me know that I am the biggest advocate for summertime and beach weather: something about warm temperatures just puts me in a good mood, and when the sun is shining too… oh, that’s just the best. However, I have to admit that I do love the transition to the holiday season and I enjoy Fall activities.

With that said, if you’re looking for a fall outdoorsy activity to do before winter forces us to stay inside all day long, I recommend going apple picking!

This past Sunday I took a lovely day trip to an apple orchard with my two friends Mariainés and Lizett. We drove all the way to Crane Orchards in Fennville, Michigan, which was three hours away. However, no need to be this extra: there are a ton of apple orchards about an hour away from Chicago, and you can find them here.

The Orchard

Crane Orchards is a gorgeous orchard in Fennville, MI, only four miles away from lake Michigan. They offer 17 different varieties of apples, but also peaches, cherries and pumpkins. Unfortunately, peaches and cherries were already out of season, but the apple orchard was so big that it made up for all of them!

Other than the U-Pick area where, you guessed, you pick your own fruit, Crane Orchards is home to a gigantic corn maze, to a picnic area, to hayrides and to a restaurant and bakery. That is literally all that you could ever ask for to fulfill all of your fall needs!

How We Spent Our Day

The weather was just beautiful on Sunday, therefore we decided to make the most out of that day and meet fairly early to go on our trip. We met in Cicero, IL at about 8.30am because leaving from the city on the day of the Chicago Marathon would have been impossible. We started by picking up some food for the day: we got champurrado, tamales, churros, conchas and other pastries from a Mexican bakery, where Lizett also spontaneously decided to buy three sandwiches to have for lunch. We stopped to get coffee and water, then we were finally on our way.

The drive was a little shorter than three hours. The weirdest thing about it was the change of time zone! We made it there at 1pm, but it was technically 12pm for us.

As I said, Crane Orchards is a beautiful place to simply run around collecting apples: that is what we did as soon as we got there. We even got a little cart to carry our apples around – which was completely unnecessary considering that we only brought like 12 apples back home.

An apple orchard is also a gigantic living photo op: we decided to be basic and so extra, and took oh so many pictures.

After we picked our apples, it was time to try to get out of a corn maze. We went in, got lost right away and wandered around for a half hour. We didn’t even make it halfway there: the maze was divided in 5 sections and we only made it to section 2 before deciding that that was enough. We struggled to find our way back but since I’m writing this blog post, you can probably guess that we eventually did!

After the corn maze, we had our sandwiches for lunch at a picnic area under a cute pavilion. Then, we went to the restaurant and bakery: we had heard that the apple pie was absolutely delicious! Therefore, we got a full one for $17 and ate it while sitting in the grass. It really was amazing!

We then left the orchard and started making our way back to the city; we stopped a couple of times looking for blueberry fields where we could pick some berries, but they all seemed close for the season.

During the car ride, we started planning our next trip for this upcoming weekend: we thought of going to the Wisconsin Dells, so we started to look at prices for the rooms there. As we passed the Horseshoe Casino by the Indiana border, Lizett told us that she could win that same amount of money there, and that if she did, she would have paid for the room. And that is the story of how I ended up going to the casino for the first time in my life. We didn’t win much, only nine bucks, but we also didn’t lose any money!

Also, the view from the parking lot at the casino was pretty spectacular.

At 6.45pm we realized that Lizett still had a coupon to claim a free Big Mac before 7pm, therefore we rushed out of the casino and sprinted to the closest McDonald’s: we made it! That was our last stop, before finally making it back home.

Now, here are three main tips to make your girls day trip as enjoyable as possible:

Pack snacks and/or lunch

Thank God Lizett decided to buy some pastries for the drive and sandwiches for lunch! We had a great picnic at the orchard and it was way cheaper than actually eating at the restaurant there. We also picked up water, Coca-Cola, Gatorade and more snacks from a couple of gas stations. There is no such thing as too many snacks on a roadtrip.

Take pictures!

I am so glad that we decided to be extremely cheesy and extra and took many pictures together! They came out really well and I can’t wait to actually print them out. It’s always fun to have concrete memories to look back to. Not to mention taking many picture is always good for the insta game. (Follow me!)

Be down for something unplanned

I cannot believe that what started as an apple picking day trip ended with a stop at the casino and a race to score a free Big Mac. Surround yourself with spontaneous people, they make life more fun!

That is all! Stay tuned for our girls trip to the Wisconsin Dells and if you have any suggestions on fun day trips not too far away from Chicago, be sure to let me know down below! (or on any social media of your choice!)