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Linda White • Special to Postmedia Network
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Time to put together your bucket list for autumn
It’s Thanksgiving weekend and while that means turkey, stuffing and gravy for many families, it also means it’s time to put together your bucket list for fall so you can take in its fiery colours and tastes before it’s too late.
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We’ve compiled a list of some of the ways you get the most out of sweater weather and fall in love with fall all over again.
Pick your own pumpkins. The drill varies from one pumpkin patch to another, but your adventure might begin by climbing aboard a wagon drawn by a tractor driven by the resident farmer.
As the tractor creeps its way into the pumpkin patch, be on the hunt for the largest or most unusual pumpkin you can find.
While at the farm, scoop up straw bales, cornstalks, decorative corn, gourds and mini pumpkins to transform your front porch and Thanksgiving tablescape.
Downey’s Farm Market in Caledon hosts Pumpkinfest through the end of October. Visit farm animals, take in duck races, and stock up on fresh garlic, radishes, zucchini, carrots, potatoes and other fall veggies.
Knox’s Pumpkin Farm in Hampton in Durham Region is a fourth-generation, family-run farm where you can get up close and personal with farm animals.
Get lost in a corn maze. Many pick-your-own pumpkin fields feature a corn maze, while other mazes are stand alone. The Hanes Corn Maze & Tiny Shop Bakery in Dundas dares you to make your way through a 20-acre maze with 12-foot walls of cornstalks. I
t also offers an escape room and spooky mazes after dark. Treat yourself to fresh fruit pies and tarts from the bakery. Cricklewood Farm in Brighton invites you to get lost in its corn maze and climb a straw mountain and hosts a Monster Hunt the first weekend after Thanksgiving.
Hit the road. Take a leisurely drive through the picturesque countryside. Visit quaint towns like St. Jacobs, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Kleinburg, Elora and Paris.
All the work farmers and growers put in over the spring and summer pays dividends with the harvest of delicious local produce so stop by a farm gate or farmers’ market to pick up fresh fall vegetables.
Get off the beaten trail. Hop aboard one of York-Durham Heritage Railway’s vintage Pullman coaches or café cars that run through the Oak Ridges Moraine between Uxbridge and Stouffville on a line built in the 1860s by Toronto distiller William Gooderham. The Pumpkin Patch Family Fest & Train Ride runs through the end of October.
Tickle your taste buds. Prince Edward County, known as ‘The County’ to locals, is a popular destination for wine and food as well as the arts and lakefront views. It’s home to more than 35 wineries that offer everything from wine tasting and tours to fine dining and culinary classes.
West of Toronto, Hamilton has also become a foodie and cultural hotspot thanks to its creative fusion cuisine, craft breweries, historical sites and arts community. Wellington Brewery is among several craft breweries in Guelph and one of Canada’s original craft breweries.
Take a hike. There are lots of trails resplendent with red, orange, yellow, purple and brown leaves right in Toronto, including East Don Parkland (you might even get a chance to see spawning salmon), E.T. Seton Park and along the West Don Trail near the Ontario Science Centre. Check out the Scarborough Bluffs Trail and Rouge Park, which stretches from Lake Ontario into Markham.
If you want to get out of the city, you might want to add these hiking trails to your bucket list: Dundas Peak, which offers access to some of Hamilton’s most stunning waterfalls, Ganaraska Forest in Port Hope, and the Elora Gorge Conservation Area, which offers opportunities to explore the Grand River.
Want to kick things up a notch? With sheer cliffs, cave systems and rock crevices, Rattlesnake Point Conservation Point in Milton is a mecca for rock climbers.
Discover trekking, ziplining. Enjoy fall’s spectacular views from a unique vantage point by treetop trekking, aerial walking, ziplining, a high ropes challenge or canopy tour through the treetops.
The 420-foot-long suspension footbridge at Scenic Caves Nature Adventures in the Town of Blue Mountain offers spectacular views of Georgian Bay from 82 feet above the forest floor.
Attend a fall festival, pumpkin tour. Applefest, an annual apple festival and craft sale held the Saturday following Thanksgiving in historic downtown Bowmanville, celebrates all things apple.
Local apple growers offer up a wide variety of fresh-picked apples and other goodies, including fresh-pressed apple cider, homemade apple pies and crisps, candy and caramel apples, cider doughnuts and hot apple fritters.
Pumpkins After Dark in Milton is a walk-through experience featuring more than 6,000 hand-carved pumpkins. Pumpkinferno at Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, an outdoor art exhibit of more than 7,000 hand-carved pumpkins all lit at night, takes you along a kilometre-long path with a 19th-century backdrop.
Halloween Nights of Lights in Toronto is an immersive walk-through experience featuring more than 1.5 million LED and RGB lights animated and synchronized to Halloween tunes
