The leaves are changing, and Josh had a weekend off from work, so that only means one thing: a fun fall weekend doing all of the basic fall things. Both of us were looking forward to this weekend, and mostly being able to spend time together since we’ve been busy the past few weeks.

Friday, October 6

Josh is surprised that he’s gotten me out to hike twice in our relationship. I didn’t really consider what we were doing “hiking” but more “walking in the woods” but he convinced me we were, in fact, hiking. 

We went to Soapstone Mountain in Somers, CT; I’ve been there a few times before with my parents, and I suggested it since it was close and I knew the hiking trails weren’t too intense. 

The first half of the hike was on the paved road that goes up to the top of the mountain, and the second half was downhill on a trail in the woods. Overall the loop was a little over 2 miles and took us about an hour to finish it.

For dinner, we went to Stillwater Grill in Stafford Springs, CT. We got there at 5:00 p.m., and I think we were the youngest people in there. For an appetizer, we split the pretzel rolls and beer cheese, and for our meals, we both got the grilled chicken bacon ranch sandwich.

Our final stop of the night was Stafford Cidery. Josh had been there once before, but I had never been and always wanted to go. We both got flights—I got Sainty, Toast, Sweet Vanilla, and Chocoholic; Josh got Toast, Gingerade, and two local beers. It was super cute inside, decorated with tons of roosters and Halloween decorations.

Saturday, October 7

In the morning, we had to do boring domestic things, like go grocery shopping—but very much needed. After lunch, we headed to Hogan’s Cider Mill in Burlington, CT, which, unfortunately, was about an hour drive away.

But it was worth it for the Drunken Donut drinks. It was made with their hard cider, served over iced, topped with whipped cream, sprinkles, and a cider donut.

We would have sat outside but it was supposed to rain that afternoon, so we found seats inside their red barn. From the pictures online, it looked like they had more indoor seating, but it was also super busy. They also have mini golf on the property, which we would have done had it not been raining. But it was a cute spot and definitely worth it for the drinks.

Then we headed home to continue the fall fun! I had seen videos on Instagram of people making pizzas shaped like ghosts and pumpkins for a spooky date night, and I told Josh we needed to do that. It was actually super fun to make them together, and I think they came out pretty cute. We had salads along with the pizza and made sure to leave enough pizza for leftovers on Sunday.

Earlier in the day I made those Pillsbury holiday cookies as a treat for later. We also brought the mattress out in the living room for a sleepover; we’ve done it before and save it for special occasions. We made fun drinks—apple cider, rum, and Fireball—and watched Young Frankenstein and started Casper, before I ended up falling asleep.

Sunday, October 8

In the morning, we went to my parents to pick up a few things and also see the pups. After lunch, we were off to Lyman Orchards in Middletown, CT. I went when I was younger with my parents, and Josh had been there before for work, but we didn’t realize how big the orchards are. It didn’t help that it was super busy since it was the long weekend.

We ended up in one of the three big orchards to pick apples (we got a ½ peck bag) and find a little pumpkin. Josh is good to keep around to reach the higher apples.

It took us about 10 minutes to drive from the orchard where we were down to the area where the bakery and corn maze was. Once we finally found a parking spot, we headed to the corn maze—our practice run for the corn maze we’re going to in a few weeks that also has a beer tasting.

The maze took us about 45 minutes to complete, and after that we wanted to go into the bakery/shop, but there was a line into the parking lot and an employee counting people going inside. I said, nope, so we instead waited in line for ice cream. That took a little while, but we got ice cream with a cider donut that we split.

We headed back home to have dinner, the leftover ghost and pumpkin pizzas and salads. Since we weren’t really home this weekend, we spent some time after dinner cleaning up and doing chores before sitting down to watch some football. Our plan is to finish Casper this weekend (on a non-football night) and maybe watch another Halloween/fall-themed movie soon.

Overall, I’d say it was a successful fun fall weekend. We hadn’t done a dedicated fall weekend since 2021—when we were just babies and only three months into our relationship—so it was great to do some seasonal things together.