The Ultimate Autumn Bucket List

October is my favorite time of the year, without a doubt. I would live endlessly in October. Not only is it my birthday month (10/4, baby!), but it’s also Physical Therapy Month (my beloved career) AND Pumpkin Spice Season! Read more for my Bucket List this autumn season.

The Basics

These are the things you can’t really do without in the autumn season, in my humble opinion. It’s also generalized so you can cross off the items no matter where you live!

• Pick apples
• Watch a scary movie (see below!)
• Go on a fall hike
• Drink a PSL (pumpkin spice latte, anyone?)
• Bake a pie (apple, pumpkin, blueberry — you choose!)
• Cook chili
• Rake leaves
• …then jump in them!
• Go on a hay ride
• Visit a haunted house
• Scenic fall drive (leaf-peeping!!!)
• Visit a pumpkin patch
• Carve pumpkins
• Have a bonfire
• Visit a vineyard
• Make mulled wine
• Burn a fall candle
• Visit a corn maze (bonus points: HAUNTED corn maze)
• Watch a football game (live OR on the TV)
• Keep a gratitude journal
• Celebrate friendsgiving

All below photos are captured from Pinterest — follow me here!

Scary Movies and Series to Watch

There are SO MANY scary movies and series you can watch this holiday season. If you don’t like scary, there’s some here for you too.

Scary Movies

My absolute favorite type of scary movie involves a few psychological aspects. I love “El Orfanato,” which is directed by Guillermo del Toro of “Pans Labyrinth.” Some of my other favorites include:

• Children of the Corn
• Insidious (2010)
• Hocus Pocus (1993)… and am yet to see Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)
• Hide and Seek (2005)
• The Amityville Horror (1979) — a home close to where I grew up! My friends and I used to drive past in high school this time of year, driving down Sleepy Hollow road past all the graveyards at night. SO SPOOKY.
• Hannibal (2001)
• It (2017 version) — even though I HATE SCARY CLOWNS, I kind of love this movie. Never will I ever watch a scary movie with a haunted doll/puppet though. So don’t ask me about Annabelle… or anything like that, kthanks.
• ANY of the “Scary Movie” films for a good laugh. Pretty sure this is why I tolerated “The Ring” so well — I couldn’t stop laughing TBH after seeing Scary Movie 1.

Episodes from TV Series

• Modern Family — “Halloween”
• New Girl — “Halloween”
• New Girl — “Keaton”
• The Office — “Halloween” (Season 2)
• Stranger Things — “Trick or Treat, Freak” (Season 2)
• The Office — “Here Comes Treble”
• How I Met Your Mother — “Slutty Pumpkin”
• WandaVision — “All-New Halloween Spooktacular”
• Friends — “The One With The Halloween Party”
• The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air — “Hex And The Single Guy”
• That ’70s Show — “Halloween”
• Glee — “The Rocky Horror Glee Show”
• Full House — “It’s Not My Job”
• It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia — “Who Got Dee Pregnant?”
• Boy Meets World — “Who’s Afraid Of Cory Wolf”
• Saved By The Bell — “Masquerade Ball”
• Grey’s Anatomy — “Haunt You Every Day” [never seen this show, but heard it’s good and there’s a few seasons lol]

Spooky TV Series

• American Horror Story: I am yet to watch this, but every season has a different story with (some of) the same cast. There are 11 seasons as of Fall 2022, but I heard you can jump in anywhere! I’ve been highly recommended the first two seasons and the eighth.
• The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020): This is one of my favorite spooky shows. Note, it dives a lot into mental health so beware!
• The Haunting of Hill House (2018): With the same cast as above, the original Haunting of Hill House is a bone-chilling TV show with unbelievable cinematography and casting. I would watch it again if I could sacrifice my sleep again… 10/10 recommend.
• Just Beyond (2021): I haven’t seen this either, but it’s based on R.L. Stein’s stories, so may be enjoyable if you were a fan of Goosebumps!
• Stranger Things: Well worth watching from the beginning, this series has a KILLER 80’s soundtrack and features alien-like demagorgons. Not as SCARY as the other shows, but spook factor increases in later seasons. It’s a little bit of mystery with a lot of nostalgia.
• Walking Dead: Zombies aren’t my thing, but I’ve heard the story of this is worth diving in.

Places to Visit in the Fall

I haven’t been to all of these places, but they’re on my list! Fall foliage is abound!

• Cascade mountains for larch trees! Read more here!
• Colorado’s San Juan National Forest
• New Hampshire’s White Mountains
• Berkshires in Western Massachusetts
• Burlington, Vermont
• Telluride, Colorado
• Minnesota’s Lake Superior
• Bar Harbor, Maine (read my Weekend Itinerary for Acadia National Park)
• Columbia River Gorge, Oregon (especially the famous Multnomah Falls)
• Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Washington

Read Next: 5 Ways to Join the PNW Larch March in Autumn

Download My Autumn Bucket List

No matter where you live, my downloadable and printable “Autumn Bucket List” is perfect to hang on the wall or keep in your car in case the opportunity strikes for an item to be checked off! You can purchase it on my Etsy below:

What’s on your autumn bucket list? What would you add?

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Post Updated October 10, 2022

P.S. There are a few TV shows and movies I have purposefully omitted because they are NOT on my personal bucket list (literally just writing the word Chucky gives me chills and I don’t ever ever EVER want to watch that puppet doll killer EVER), but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy them.