Dunes Blog

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My wife and I have heard nothing but bad things since the County Line Orchard was been bought out by the Luke Oil Company. Last year we didn’t go (we had moved to Chicago), so this year, conscious of the problems we heard about, we decided to find a new apple orchard in Northwest Indiana to go to.

It was actually rather difficult to find out where all the orchards are in the area. But I came across this list which lists all the orchards and wineries in Northern Indiana. The list is slightly outdated; for example Anderson’s no longer has Apple’s, they only do wine grapes now.

The closest orchard we could find was Garwood Orchard in LaPorte. So, the wife and I piled into the car on Saturday and went for a drive. Garwood Orchard is located out in the country before you get to LaPorte, it’s not far off Route 2 and really easy to find.

The orchard has two components, a store and the u-pick orchard about a quarter mile down the road. We were there for Apples and went to the u-pick farm. It was great fun. We rode in a old horse drawn wagon to the Red Delicious Apples and had a really fun time picking apples right off the tree.

Garwood Orchard is very quiet and it was very peaceful out in the country. The farm is gorgeous and a pleasure to walk through.
We spent about $30 and got enough Apples to last us until the end of the season. It felt good to support a family farm that has been around for six generations.

I love Apples and look forward to this time every year. The apples from Garwood Orchard are unbelievably delicious. We also picked up some giant pumpkins and dried corn to decorate the front of our house.

Check out their website for information on what’s ripe and what’s going on. They have special events throughout the season. I’m actually pretty impressed with their website, it’s a decent, clean design, has plenty of information and is SEO’d nicely. Good job guys.

After the orchard, we drove into LaPorte to have a look around and go to a bookstore I remember being there. Neither of us had been to LaPorte in years and were surprised at how much bigger and more developed the downtown was compared to Valparaiso. We were very impressed. There was a fun festival going on called the LaPorte Sunflower Festival. The crowds weren’t too bad.

Unfortunately, it appears the used bookstore called Chuck’s books closed some time ago. There’s a church in it’s place and their phone number is disconnected. It is getting increasingly harder to find a a good used bookstore in the area. It’s a damn shame. We also had fun exploring the various antique stores that populate the downtown.

Also of note, the last Army Navy Surplus Store in Northern Indiana is located in LaPorte. It’s right downtown on Lincolnway and they had a pretty good selection of Army Navy Gear. I used to love the store out in Hammond that is now closed.

There is also a nice orchard in Michigan City called Radke Orchard. Their website is very nice as well and filled with relevant information. There is also a u-pick orchard in Crown Point called Mowry’s farm. Their website isn’t as nice but gives you the most relevant information.

So, if you’re looking for a fun fall activity, Garwood Orchard and a visit to LaPorte were a pretty fun day out.

Northwest Indiana Orchard Links

Directory of Apple Orchards in Northern Indiana
Garwood Orchard Website - LaPorte
Radke Orchard - Michigan City
Mowry’s Fruit Farm - Crown Point
County Line Orchard - Hobart

I read in the paper this morning that Porter County Fair attendance was down this year. It’s being blamed on the tough economy.

This does not surprise me. There was no one there when my wife and I went (last Friday night), which was actually nice.

One of the things we were looking forward to before we moved back to Valpo from Chicago was the Porter County Fair. Lame, I know. But we always have a good time and enjoy hometown feel. The hometown feel is one of the reasons we moved back to Valparaiso from Chicago. We were almost not able to go (being poor and all - tough times will be over soon), but we scraped together the cash and were able to go.

We had a smashing time, but it cost an arm and a leg.

Attendance was down because it’s $7 per person to get in, then you have to eat. My wife and I went with $40 thinking that would be plenty to have fun.

By the time we ate (yummy burgers and fries and elephant ears), we were out of money. We were not able to ride any rides, play any of the games (which are a scam anyway) or buy anything from the shady dealers.

Since when did two people need $100 bucks to have a good time at the fair? Hell, we could have went to Kelsey’s and had steak for dinner for $40.

We had a great time anyway. The food was fantastic, the free entertainment was fun. We also enjoyed going through the animal sheds and seeing all the local businesses in the Porter County Expo Center (the Lego’s in the 4-H were impressive). Got a free map from the Porter County Democrats table (can’t pass up a free road map). We also ended up seeing all the friendly horses then watching some of the girls perform with their horses.

We also greatly enjoyed the quality time we spent together, even if we didn’t have money to do anything else at the fair, at least we were with each other. Check out my NWI photoblog for some of the pictures I took.

If the fair organizers are so worried about dropping attendance, maybe they should rethink what they charge for admission. After all the place is plastered with sponsor after sponsor.

I can’t wait until next year and I hope we have that $100 to have a little extra fun.