We moved to Louisiana about 3 years ago, in the middle of the fall. New friends asked if I had questions about living here, and I did. I grew up in St. Louis where we have all four seasons. Scorching summers, snow in the winter, blossoming mild springs, and gorgeous, pumpkin filled, chilly falls. By late October, I was looking for fall in Louisiana. When was it coming? I wasn’t giving up on my favorite season.
I soon discovered that while we do LOVE living in Baton Rouge, I was going to have to be creative to pass on a love of a cold, colorful fall the way I remember it to my boys. When our boys lived in Oklahoma, there were also tons of fall activities nearby. This is what they remember from early childhood, so we came looking for it here too. We might be sweating buckets at the pumpkin patch, but we’ll be there (at multiple ones)!
We go to our favorite pumpkin patch in Louisiana every fall. We also go to a hay maze, plus we visit the Burden gardens where we can go on a hayride and to the petting zoo. These are some of my favorite places to go in the fall, and the boys love them too. We also love painting pumpkins, which is creative and fun, plus it lasts longer on the porch than a carved one. I bake pumpkin chocolate chip cookies intermittently from late September until Thanksgiving. Apple cinnamon muffins show up on our breakfast table on the weekends, and you bet I’ve hit up Bath and Body Works for all those yummy fall soaps and air fresheners. I put out the fall wreath and other fall decorations in September while the AC hums happily.
Those fall booties and blanket scarves are on reserve the moment it gets below 70 degrees, even if the scarf just becomes cheerful blast of fall color in the passenger seat of the car. And when my boys ask when it’s going to get really cold, I just remind them that our Thanksgiving trip to Michigan is right around the corner!
