Picking Pumpkins: A Fall Pastime!

On Sunday we drove up Highway 1 to pick some pumpkins for our Third Annual Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza! We went to Bob's in Half Moon Bay.  It was a bit of a drive but it was well worth it.  Bob's Pumpkin Patch is a big open field of pumpkins with a view of the Pacific Ocean.  I'm also told the prices can't be beat.  But there's more!  At Bob's there were pigs that fell over in a heap of contentment when you pet them and goats that stared into your soul and then coyly trotted away. There was also an old rusted out truck and bales of hay and some of those boards with painted bodies and holes you can stick your head through (at Bob's you could try on the body of a fat ghost, a formal looking skeleton or a witch hunched over her cauldron) . . . But most of all there were pumpkins--lots and lots of pumpkins!  There were the tall oval pumpkins that C likes and the perfectly round ones that are just right for those classic jack-o-lantern faces and hilariously lumpy ones that beg for a creative hand to transform them and the short squat pumpkins that I love--all sorts of pumpkins!

After everyone found their perfect pumpkin, we drove back down the coast and rewarded ourselves with cups of warm coffee and cider and pieces of blackberry cobbler, pumpkin pie and strawberry shortcake at Swanton Berry Farm in Davenport (because choosing the perfect pumpkin is a lot of work).  Then, with bellies full and warm, we headed back to Santa Cruz to plot our designs for our Third Annual Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza!

Below are some photos from this year's pumpkin patch adventures:

Pig Whisperer

Hog Heaven

Buckwheat Meets Pig.

Sniffing Each Other Out

The Pumpkin Haul

Pick your Pumpkin!

Tall ones, squat ones, round ones, fat ones!

T & J Haul the Pumpkins

At Bob's You Can Try on Any of These Ghoulish Figures!

Buckwheat is a Pretty Good Sport

Adventures are Better with Dog.

C at Swanton Berry Farm

On Tuesday our friend hosted our Third Annual Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza.  Photos of our pumpkin creations to come soon!

Happy Fall Everyone!

(9 - 12 taken by C)