Fall is a beautiful season —- high blue skies, colorful leaves, fruits heavenly hanged from the trees, families happily push around the pumpkins. Since my son was born, I took him to Central Grove Orchard every year, sometimes just us and sometimes with friends. I never felt it’s a baby sitting or a kid thing, and most of the time I am happily playing too. We love this orchard, because every detail here says the cheerfulness of the workers. Every one here smiles, and they build or create new fun things every year. It’s easily spending a day here. We see many families, couples, friends, and also big family reunions (one tip is to remember buy your tickets online, it can save you a couple of dollars per person).

Apple picking! The best time for apple picking is the beginning of October. The freshly picked apples are so tasty. We typically buy a bag of 1/2 and cost $11.95. Then you can pick whatever you want from the trees. My son waves an apple-pick stick like his secret weapon 🙂

Pumpkin picking! My son likes to pick pumpkins from the vines. It is the festivity of picking a pumpkin that worth us additional money and efforts, comparing to just buying one from the supermarket. It’s a good time to show off my muscles too, as you know, they are heavy 🙂 . Ah, ouch, the little thorns on the vine were poking me. I immediately used my hat to wrap around its stem.

Baby goats! This baby goat is only 2 weeks old. Like this lady, I was also holding her, so was my son. Our smiles are so big in the pictures. My son said that’s his favorite part of the day.

We were bottle feeding the baby goats (it cots $3 dollars).

More animals! The rooster was saying cock-a-doodle-doo at 5pm 😀 —- Everyone is hungry here.

Our favorite zip lines! I managed to record a ride! The wait is short and only 2-3 people ahead of us.

Big big slides! I remembered that at the first time we went, my son only can ride in my arms, and now he can enjoy doing everything by himself. Time flies!

Jumping pillows! Jump until you are out of breath 🙂

Favorite basketballs!

Making giant bubbles! Some kids were chasing bubbles. Me and other kids were making bubbles. The bubbles are enormous!

Hay Rides! I remember that one time, I took Julie to the hay ride. Her eyes were brighter and she got so excited (she is from New York, and only ride dirty trains most of the time :))

Train rides! You got to see more animals that are chilling under the sun, like alpacas and donkeys

Tractor rides! I barely fit into these tractors but still can ride it to chase my son 🙂

Many many games and animal shows! Just name a few: apple sling shot, sand pit, mazes, tractor pulls, duck races, face painting, balloon making …. They are all free. Those ladies are the volunteers and they make balloons for kids whole day!

Kids and animals are so healing. I was talking to this little one
“how old are you?”
“I don’t know”
“What’s your name?”
“Spiderman”
Kids are just angels 🙂

Every year, I come here, and I see beauty, humor, warm smiles, blue skies, sun and hopes! Our human life is supposed to be like this.

This national park is hilarious: (1) grocery stores and bass pro shop is 10-20 minutes away (dependent on which part of the park you are located) ; (2) within a walking distance of the campsite, there is a restaurant and a convenient store with an excellent ice cream —- in case you messed up your food over the camp fire, there is a backup :D; (3) our camp site manager stated that the best fishing is outside the national park like in Washington Park; (4) the best hiking is in the Indian Dune State Park, which is inside the national park, but you have to pay the entrance fee one more time to the state park :); (5) when you drive from one spot to another spot of the national park, sometimes, you are on a highway and see those container trucks and cementer mixer driving by, as well as the factories not far away (that old midwest feeling), lol

Well, I guess it is not that bad :). At the visit center, you hear people say: “In the Indian dunes, I touched the earth and become stronger thereby”. Many different species of birds migrate from Canada to south, and will stay here for a period of time. In May, the park will host the birding festival. We were here in August, but did not see any special birds.

This park has a diverse of natural habitats, like marsh, swamp, bog and savanna. There are more than 1100 native plants. You can see exotic plants like the carnivorous plant (pitcher plant). There are many 1-2 miles short trails here, which work well for families. For example, in the Great March trail, you see many wild flowers and the beautiful heroin.

A famous trail here is the 3-Dune challenges. Most of the time, you are just sinking in the sands and fighting with the slopes like almost 45 degrees :). You are debating “should I be bare feet or wear my hiking boot?”:D It’s not a great trail to see the shape of dunes but fun to hike.

The great place to see dunes is Mt Baldy. Coming to the national parks, you see the evidences that nature hands shape things, like carving a lake and moving the dunes. I sometimes accelerate the process and visualize it in my head. This whole space is formed by glacier carving and moraine. The dunes are moving yearly due to the wind of the lake Michigan, and the forests are then buried under the sand. Some dunes are not safe to hike, there are holes where people can drop in. The largest moving dune here is called Mt Baldy. It moves 20 feet away from the lake every year. There are vegetation like marram grass and cotton wood trees covering the dunes here and there.

Another great trail to see the dunes are the west beach trails. There are three trails connected here, several miles. The first part of the trail is an easy access of stairs. You will give a smile after several days walking in the sink sands on the trails 😀

At the end of this trail, we arrived at the beach. Mt Baldy trail also leads to a very good beach. There were not many people during week days. It is easy to stay here for hours just to enjoy the tranquility, hear the winds, read books, talk to friends, feel the sun, trek the water or skip the stones on the water.

Here comes the fishing. The ranger recommends a place called the “portage lakefront” in the park. The pure blue sky, open water beautiful view was so pleasant. We were there whole afternoon, picnic, reading and yoga/pilate. My son caught an 19 inch long fish. Nobody voted to eat that poor fish, we believed it can survive so we released it. There is this steal factor right besides us, not sure how clean this water is.

My favorite about camping trips? many! Almost every day, there was this cool morning sun, and its ray directly arrived at my eyes when I waked up. There were beautiful stars in the dark at night. There were thunderstorms and lightening one night and the whole tent was shaking :). There was also that coyote who waked me up around the midnight, and it lasted quite a long time.

Camp sites need to book months in advance, especially for the weekends. The dune wood camp grounds are in the woods and have showers. The camp site is clean and spacious.

Besides hiking, fishing and camping, there are also kayak (you need to bring your own) and biking (rental available at the visitor center). In winter, it will be cool to watch how ice is formed on the lake Michigan and there is also awesome cross country. In the visit center, there is a great video which can make you super excited about this “uncool looking” park :D. It is always a good start point of your trip.

National parks never disappoint me. I always find so much beauty and then give it a smile. Going to museums, you discover your favorite arts, while going to the nature, you find your favorite scenes, scents, sound and stories.