Fall Festival hopping

I took advantage of the 80 degree October day by taking what might be my last big bike ride of the year. I would have surrounded myself with trees and gone up the North Branch trail, but I saw a whole bunch of red and orange leaves the day before. So I rode to a few fall activities including the annual autumn favorite: Elston Ave between Montrose and Fullerton.

First stop: The Fall Festival at North Park Village Nature Center. I saw it listed on Metromix and didn't read past "fall festival" before deciding to go (I like the idea of festivals, and the phrase "fall festival"). For a while I rode around the campus not seeing anything close to a festival. I thought I got some detail wrong, but then I saw one too many people carrying homemade scarecrows for it to be a coincidence. Eventually I found a farmers' market and a scarecrow competition.

Utter pandemonium. A big area of hay and clothes, kids scrambling. I really should have asked about the rules (What's with the scarecrows coming from outside the festival? Surely they shouldn't be judged alongside the impromptu ones). I did hear an older couple with clipboards speak rather harshly about how the scarecrows were similar. Oddly enough, the judges didn't have crows in cages.

Then I walked around the wetland area, very cool. It's probably better in full bloom and after a heavy rain for the complete wetland experience, so that's on my April-May 2011 To Do list.
Second stop: The Bucktown Apple Pie Contest. After the obligatory autumn ride down Elston, I locked up outside Holstein Park. Outside: square dancing, pumpkin painting, pony rides, some kind of play, and lots of pregnant women. Inside: complete chaos.
$1 gets you one ticket; three tickets gets you a taste of apple pie... so you do the math. I had two slices which were both amazing. I ate them within ten minutes, felt great, then bad, then somehow thought washing it down with a hot dog was a good idea. I walked my bike to Armitage before feeling well enough to ride.

Noticeably absent: Carl Sagan's Apple Pie.

Third stop: Some vintage clothing sale in Wicker Park. Total anarchy. It didn't have the selection of mens hats I was hoping for, so I pressed on. I could have gone straight up Damen but I've done that so many times this year, so I went east to the lake despite the two pounds of pie crust in my stomach. Webster and Belden to the lake.

Fourth stop: The zoo! Wild. Literally, wild animals everywhere.

I liked this bear, a sun bear. She had surgery on his jaw a few years ago and as a result her tongue protrudes a little. But she's healthy and she's cool about it.

Then your standard ride up the lakefront path.

This is separate from the bike ride, but I wanted to throw this picture in. This is from Saturday when I was at the Wild Raspberry Apple Orchard in Union Pier, MI. I had a great time at their Harvest Festival.
Some chicagobike business: My initial goal was to blog about every big bike ride I went on over the summer. Then I wanted to take advantage of every moment of the summer, which meant not sitting at home blogging. So now, I have a backlog of bike rides and pictures that I can write about over the winter and think back on the nice summer days. So get ready for Ribfest in November.