Fall Fun

Saturday morning we ventured over to Sonny Acres to enjoy some apple cider donuts. It was a little cool and overcast but not too bad, although there was hardly anywhere to sit since it had rained that morning and all the benches & picnic tables were wet.

Tangent: I will never understand why no one running the business thinks of drying them off, although I made this suggestion when I reviewed the place on Facebook. How much time and effort could it take to send an employee with a towel or two over to the seating area to dry everything off? I know as a customer I would notice and appreciate this gesture. Another thing that I think would enhance their business is if an employee walking the grounds offering to take photos so that mom and dad both can be in the picture with their kids. It would foster goodwill with the community. And finally, why the heck don’t they even list the apple cider donuts on their website? They mention lots of other food but not the donuts and I’m pretty sure they are highly coveted during this time of the year. Perhaps I should have gone into marketing – I can always spot ways in which a business can improve their service.

We only got a half dozen donuts ($8 – yikes!) which turned out to be a good call since they no longer put them in the plastic container but just throw them in a paper bag. We ate four of the six while we people-watched for a good hour before growing cold and leaving. We then headed to Old Time Pottery so I could look at the seasonal decor. I bought two mini purple lanterns ($1.29 each) that I added to each end of the fireplace mantel and a “give thanks” sign ($5) for Thanksgiving since I really don’t own any Thanksgiving decor.

Saturday evening we took the Gallery of Ghoulish Homes tour in St. Charles. Our first stop was a new participant and we were surprised we were the only visitors as they did a great job with the home and the three live actors.

The next house we visited wasn’t too impressive but the one after that was a house on a large corner lot with an expansive graveyard. It was packed with people compared to the first two homes we visited. They actually won best house from the judges (Saturday was judging night) but I think it was more for the 10-foot tall pirate skeleton that was roaming the property and talking to visitors since nothing about the rest of the decor was all that thrilling. I didn’t get a great photo of the costume, but you get the idea.

Our next stop was a house we’ve been visiting for many years. It’s on a dead-end street and we usually just drive past because the live actors creep me out. This time we decided to get out of the car to investigate the getup more closely and that’s how I got roped into walking through their yard/garage haunt. They purposely had us wait until the other people went ahead so we weren’t in a big group. The first part is alongside their home toward the backyard. It’s lined with cornstalks and people jump out to startle you, which of course made me scream. It was much of the same the entire way but fun at the same time. It’s a free way to get a little scare.

There were another eight houses after that and only one of them was lame so overall it was an enjoyable evening.

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Sunday evening we headed to Beef Shack for dinner and then back to Sonny Acres for a haunted wagon ride (I always want to call it a haunted hayride but there’s not any hay). It’s been five years since we last went on the ride due to factors like weather and no one wanting to join us. Well, we still couldn’t find anyone up to joining us but the weather was literally in the 70’s so we jumped at the opportunity to go without freezing our butts off.

Unlike five years ago the line was not in total darkness so that was good. We were both surprised by how crowded it was, however. We figured a Sunday would be less so since people have to work the next day. We arrived around 6:40 pm and the first ride time (7 pm) was already sold out, so we got tickets for 7:20.

We actually got on the ride closer to 7:10, however, and our wagon wasn’t completely full which was nice. We weren’t allowed to take any photos or video, though, so that kinda sucked. The ride isn’t really scary even with people jumping out and hanging onto the wagon, but it was still fun. It’s just not something I can see myself doing too often as I think we’d grow bored. Plus it’s $10 per person which isn’t exactly cheap.

Once we got off the ride around 7:30ish the place was much less crowded and there was hardly a line for the haunted wagon ride. So note to self – 8 pm on a Sunday might be the best time to go to avoid long lines.