October and Fall Weather Activities!

Starting Fall is very important to me for many reasons, including the fall of the leaves and changing of the colors, festive drinks and eats and my Birthday! I have been consumed with coursework and applying for health administrative fellowships that a visit from my parents this past weekend was a much needed break. Sooo, what did we do this weekend you ask....let me tell you!

Friday: Wedge Pizza

My parents came in late and I was exhausted from the week so we stayed enjoying some of my favorite pizza in town, the Wedge! The speciality pizza, "The Nutcracker" is what I was craving, which includes their original pesto-basil sauce with pistachios, red pepper and mozzarella!

Saturday: Shopping, Apple Orchard, Movies and Orchard Green

Saturday was up bright and early at 8:30AM to meet the rents at the Holiday Inn Express to indulge on some breakfast to get some energy in for a full mornings worth of shopping at the outlet mall 20 minutes west of Iowa City in Williamsburg, which also has a fabulous winery, but that is for another blog entry. After shopping our wallets out, which I ended up with a book, while my parents had at least 5 bags worth of shoes and clothes...we headed over to the Wilson's Apple Orchard to meet with my friends and professional group the Iowa Student Association of Healthcare Leaders (ISAHL), which is part of my department of Health Management and Policy. We roamed the fields of apple trees and filled ourselves up on apple turnovers, apple-cider slushies and donuts!

After walking around all morning and afternoon, we decided to go see "Moneyball" at the theaters, which was amazing...coming from someone who is not a huge sports person to begin with, but definitely recommend going to see it! After the movie we headed to my family's favorite spot for dinner, Orchard Green! They buy local, even from the Apple Orchard we were at and have a seasonal menu that is simply to die for, well maybe when I am in the last stages of life, but you know what I mean ;)

Sunday: 5K for Dance Marathon!

I signed my whole family up for the 5K for Dance Marathon, which is an organization that raises money for the University of Iowa's Children's Hospital! A lot of my friends within the department and ISAHL were participating and it was the perfect end to a weekend of amazing weather and to celebrate my birthday!

I hope this gave you a little insight of how much there is to do in Iowa City and participate in, at least on a nice fall weekend when there is no Football occurring and the variety of choices there is for families and friends!

Wishing you a happy start to Fall and October!

Ryan