Since the end of summer I have been dreaming about all of the wonderful, lasting family memories we were going to make this year during our first trip to a pumpkin patch. I had visions of snuggling up close together on a hayride, picking the perfect pumpkin off the vine, taking great family pictures in the pumpkin patch, grabbing a little snack at the general store, and visiting the animals at the animal barn ... all things that were promised at the pumpkin patch I chose for us to visit. Well, our Friday trip was one great big bust, and my perfect family memories were ruined.
(Can you tell I'm being a little overdramatic here? ;) Really, I am laughing about it now, but I almost cried on Friday!)
We pulled up at the pumpkin patch on Friday afternoon to find a great big closed sign on the gate (by the way, the only thing listed on this patch's website is "Open September 18 - November 22" ... no mention at all about particular hours of operation). Half of the gate was still open, and there were a few cars inside, so we decided to drive in anyway. We found a worker who told us they actually were closed until later that evening but went to ask the owner if we could get a pumpkin and see the animals anyway. He kindly said yes, and the girl directed us to the pumpkins. The pumpkins weren't on vines or in any sort of patch or field. They were pre-picked, and while there were a million smaller pumpkins to choose from, there were roughly 10 large, porch-sized pumpkins that really weren't even worth having! We would have felt bad not getting anything at all since they let us in even though they were closed, so we chose the best one we could find (which I later found out had a huge rotten spot in the bottom of it!) and got two smaller ones.
After we paid for our pumpkins, we started to head down to the animal barn but got stopped because the co-owner decided we couldn't go down by ourselves after all since they weren't officially open, and there wouldn't be an employee around for liability issues. So, away we drove, with no hayride, no animal barn, no sweet family pictures and no special little treat from the general store. Oh yeah, and with crappy pumpkins.
On our way to supper, we passed by a road side stand with the biggest, fattest pumpkins you've ever seen. We decided to stop on our way home and get a better pumpkin. Of course, it's our luck that they were closed by the time we finished supper and went back.
So, here are the few pictures I did get, plus one of Cam on Sunday with the pumpkins on our porch. Any one have any suggestions for a better pumpkin patch in the area we can try next year? Maybe I'll get my memories in 2010!
