Fall in Michigan

Hi everyone!

It's currently my favorite season here in East Lansing - autumn - and I just wanted to share how beautiful and fun it can be :)

MSU's campus is huge and often feels like a park! Sometimes I take it for granted, but being able to bike and walk through this beautiful oasis of colors every day is really a blessing. Check it out:

I go running sometimes and I can't resist taking pictures when the weather is nice - it seems like nature turned up an oversaturation filter on everything. It is really very stunning.

In addition to the normal trails and paths of MSU, the Horticultural Demonstration Gardens are usually still in full bloom in September when the seasons are slowly changing from summer to fall. My family - especially my mom - loves gardens, so this year I took them down to check out all the nature there. 

My dad, my mom, and me :)

People often write gardens off as boring places, but I think everyone could benefit from taking half an hour a week to enjoy the soft sounds of water splashing in the fountain and the far-off sound of kids playing in the 4H gardens while enjoying the flora and fauna :) There's not quite anything like fresh air to cheer someone up!

Oh yeah! There are also Japanese gardens here at MSU too. No one really goes all the way down south to those gardens, so when I visit I'm usually the only one - it's really nice :)

So peaceful. Ommmmm.

In terms of events, though, living in Michigan means that we must eat APPLE CIDER AND DONUTS, which are synonymous to fall with me. If you haven't heard of apple cider donuts, they're very different from the deflated, overglazed, slightly stale ones you might find in a sad plastic cabinet at the grocery store for multiple reasons: they are usually fresh, aren't smothered in too-sweet glaze or powdered sugar, and have wonderful amounts of cinnamon in them... I'll let the picture do the talking:

oh, they are calling my name :'(

You usually have to wait in a huge line to get your hands on these (along with a big jug of delicious apple cider to wash the crumbs down!) but it is so, so worth it. They're really only available at this time of year, so if you ever visit Michigan in September-October, save a day or two to make a trip to a cider mill :) I'd be happy to give any recommendations to my favorite places!

Sometimes cider mills are also connected to apple orchards where you can pick your own apples - my personal favorites are Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apples, but I know many people don't like them because they're a tad sour. I ate a lot of sweet Fuji apples when I was in Japan. In comparison to Japanese apples, American ready-to-pick apples are smaller... but also fresher (you can pick them and eat them directly!!)

For me, fall in Michigan means leaves and flowers putting on magnificent color shows, the delicious smells of pies and cinnamon and apple cider donuts (bolded for emphasis) and of course apples apples apples apples. And in addition to that - friends and family! All of these places and events are best enjoyed with other people, I think.

What do you like most about fall? :)