How does a free trip for two to Los Angeles sound? And while you’re there, how about a great dinner — on the house — at the acclaimed Animal restaurant?

This unexpected vacation sounds awesome to Sue Tomlinson, the lucky winner of our “Short and SweeTango Season” contest. After the contest entry period closed on Oct. 31, we picked Tomlinson from thousands of entries.

Tomlinson is a project management coordinator at a commercial real estate firm. She and her husband, who live in Homewood, Ill., have two college-age daughters.

Tomlinson is a huge SweeTango fan. She tells the story of how she first encountered the variety:

“It was last year when we were driving my oldest daughter’s things to her at the University of Minnesota. We stopped at Pepin Heights Orchards. In the store, there was a woman handing out samples of apples.”

“One of the samples was the SweeTango. My husband and I tried it, and immediately fell in love with it. It was the best apple I had ever had.”

“We bought bags of the apples to bring to my daughter at school and back home.”

“Since then, I tell everybody about these apples and want them to taste them. As a matter of fact, my younger daughter and I were just visiting my daughter at school in Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago, and I found SweeTangos at a store there. I was thrilled and I called my husband and told him I’m bringing bags of SweeTangos home!!”

“My whole family absolutely loves them, so this was a real treat!”

Tomlinson has since been spreading the word about SweeTango.

“I honestly could go on and on about these apples — just ask the people around me!”

Tomlinson’s prize includes dinner for two at Animal, the restaurant run by top chefs Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook. She said she’s got a wedding anniversary coming up — and a trip to L.A. and a nice dinner at Animal might just fit the bill!