Your guide to Metro Detroit's best cider mills

👋🏼 Howdy, folks, it's Sam. There's just nothing better than Michigan in the fall.

Why it matters: From late August to November, you'll find families of all backgrounds walking up to huge barns seeking fresh doughnuts and apple cider across the Great Lakes State.

Driving the news: I drove to Bloomfield Township on Thursday to try Franklin Cider Mill for the first time, a family tradition for thousands around Metro Detroit.

• The mill has a number of seasonal treats for sale in and outside its barn: apples by the half peck (6 lbs.) and bushel (40 lbs.), as well as pies, homemade jams, maple syrup and salsas.
• There's also a hot dog stand selling cider dogs marinated in apple cider (and regular dogs, too).

Zoom in: You can watch staff make cider from behind glass using a process called pressing.

• You can also watch freshly made cinnamon sugar doughnuts get boxed hot off a conveyor belt.

By the numbers: Each press — using around 5,000 Michigan apples — makes 150 gallons of cider.

Other favorite mills in Metro Detroit include:

• Yates (Rochester Hills): The mill has a nature trail with views of the Clinton River.
• Open Monday-Friday, 7am-7pm, Saturday-Sunday, 9am-7pm.
• Blake's Farms (Armada): The farm offers haunted hayrides, a three-story haunted barn and zombie paintball starting today and each Friday through the season.
• Open Sunday-Thursday, 8am-7pm, Friday-Saturday, 8am-9pm.

• Westview Orchards & Winery (Washington Township): The wine porch is open and so is the vegetable garden for you-pick.
• Open daily, 10am-5pm.
• Apple Charlie's South Huron Orchards (New Boston): They have reasonably priced cider ($10/gallon) and pies ($13 pumpkin, $15 apple).
• They also offer hayrides.
• Open Sunday-Thursday, 10am-6pm, Friday-Saturday, 10am-8pm.
• Parmenter's Northville Cider Mill (Northville): On weekdays you can look through the viewing gate to see the cider being pressed.
• On weekends, the mill opens its Nut Hut, which makes candied almonds, and the Chow Mill, serving hot dogs and kielbasa.
• Open daily, 10am-8pm.

Flashback: My childhood cider mill is Bayne's Apple Valley in Freeland, about a 20-minute drive from my childhood home in Midland.

• Read more about Bayne's here.