Travel: Indiana Fall Foliage Tour

features | well being Fulfilling your Fall

Bucket List

By Mary Jane Bogle

Anyone familiar with Indiana’s change of seasons knows how quickly that transformation occurs. One minute you’re sweltering in the hot summer sun; the next, you’re throwing on hats and mittens and shivering at the local high school football game. If you’re not careful, you might miss all that autumn has to offer.

Hence our Fall Bucket List. It’s time to create a plan that will help you experience the fullness of the season. From that first whiff of crisp fall air to that last leap into a pile of leaves, here are 31 ideas to get you started. (Pick and choose your favorites or do all 31. Just remember that some require planning, so schedule accordingly!)

1. Visit an orchard and pick a variety apples. Choose a mixture of tart and sweet … perfect for baking or making applesauce. 2. Drink some fresh apple cider. Buy extra for hot cider later in the month!

3. Purchase produce at a farmer’s market. Think squash and tomatoes. 4. Make a meal with seasonal produce. (See #3.) 5. Plan a camping trip. Bonus points if you stay more than one night in a tent and cook over an open flame. 6. Build a campfire. (See #5.) 7. Roast s’mores. Opt for dark chocolate for a deeper flavor and antioxidant boost. 8. Go for a hike. Make sure to crunch leaves underfoot.

9. Buy some natural lip balm. 10. Bake apple cider donut holes.

11. Run a 5k. Consider the Hot Cider Hustle on October 24 in Fort Wayne. 12. Pull your sweaters out of storage. 13. Organize your fall wardrobe. Set aside clothes you no longer wear and donate them to a local thrift store or homeless shelter.

14. Volunteer at the Community Harvest Food Bank. 15. Condition your leather boots. 16. Host a pumpkin carving party. Be sure to roast some of the pumpkin seeds. 17. Make a pot of turkey chili. 18. Dehydrate pear slices. 19. Start a gratitude journal. 20. Make a fall wreath.

21. Gather sunflowers at J & L Pickin Patch at 3522 Nutman Ave, Fort Wayne. 22. Plant some mums.

23. Get lost in the Amazing Fall Fun Corn Maze, just 20 miles north of Fort Wayne in Waterloo. 24. Go on a hayride.

27. Read a book. 25. Snap a selfie at Cook’s Orchard pumpkin patch. 26. Take in a fall festival. (Hint:

Johnny Appleseed is on this year!)

28. Take a nap in a hammock. 29. Revamp your fall soup recipes to include healthy alternatives. 30. Take a long bike ride on one of many Allen County trails. 31. Jump in that final pile of leaves.