Years ago, we stumbled upon an orchard near the Bong Rec Area and every autumn, we'd make the drive down to get apples, cider and, sometimes, hickory nuts and to get into that fall feeling.

We'd be hard pressed to tell you the name of the place (Brightonwoods Orchard) or where exactly it's located (Highway B -- a state rustic road -- north of 142 in Burlington), but we know how to get there and we know that they have a great variety of rare apples.

Although you can't pick your own, you can wander the orchards, which is fun, and there's also a winery (AeppelTreow) there now that makes wine from apples and other fruits.

This autumn we made our first jaunt there with our son and it looks like the tradition will now continue (after a brief hiatus last year). He loved the tree house, wandering through the rows of pumpkins and drinking apple cider samples from a cup like a big boy.

And, of course, we now have two bags full of mixed apples -- dang, we can never remember which are which (although I know from sampling that I like the Empires best -- and a gallon of amazing cider in the fridge. Sure, it's 85 in the shade, but it still feels like fall.