Fall has always been my favorite season because of the fashion, the weather and the overall atmosphere. Part of the overall fall atmosphere is the absolute classic: apple picking. Even as a young girl, I loved going apple picking, and the love continued to grow over the years. Now as a freshman at Bradley I know that the most important thing, no matter what else: Tanners absolutely needs to be visited during the fall. You can imagine my excitement when I found out about a highly-praised apple orchard near my new college home and made plans to go with my close friends.
The absolute obsession with Tanners has been nothing short of hilarious to me, and I was overwhelmingly excited to visit it during fall. Luckily for me, things were planned out and it ended up that I was able to go with my sorority. I was happy I could finally fill this new hole in my soul. I figured since I was going and this would be my first time, I wanted to document my experience and give my honest review.
The beginning of our Tanners adventure was a little rocky with the very busy Saturday crowd all deciding we chose the perfect time and joining us in the parking lot, which made parking extremely difficult. That being said, that’s where my complaints will end. I had a fantastic time the entire time I was there, and we did a lot of things throughout the trip.
When we first got there, I was a little overwhelmed because there were so many things to look at and so many things to do, but we decided to walk around to see everything before we went to the corn maze. I loved the way that the corn maze was set up, and I thought it was interesting that they changed the shape of it every year so you never did the same thing twice. I also really appreciated that there were two separate different ways to go through, giving you options on how long you want to spend in it. We went through the shorter of the two routes and it took a good amount of time, but it was so much fun throughout all.
I also was very pleasantly surprised when I saw the animals. I thought the goats that were out were absolutely adorable. There was something just captivating about the goats that were walking around in the sky and it was honestly not something that I was expecting when we went to an apple orchard. Definitely a fun surprise and it made for some cute pictures to send my grandma who loves goats.
The market was everything I was hoping for and more. It had the perfect fall aesthetic throughout it that matched the rest of the orchard perfectly. There was so much to look at as you walked through the market and it was overwhelming, but very exciting. I will be completely honest when I say I had a goal going into the market: I had to leave with apple cider and apple cider donuts. I was not disappointed. I was also extremely pleased with the selection they were offering because they had so many different sizes for both the cider and the donuts. I personally bought a little pint of apple cider and half a dozen donuts which was the perfect size for my dorm.
Overall, it was a really great experience and it was a perfect fall day with beautiful weather. All of my expectations were exceeded and I had a great time. I completely understand the hype around Tanners now and it will definitely become a new yearly tradition.