ROAD RAGE

We have had an impressive run of out of town adventures, but this weekend schooled us in the ways of suburban traffic. 

Saturday night we attended a wedding, which was enchanting (congrats Lisa and Lior!) but civilized (home before 1am) and I had ambitiously planned for us to go pumpkin picking with our friends in upstate NY on Sunday.

The best part of the day was seeing our friends Tim, Elizabeth, and Charlie, and Elizabeth's mom, sister, and nephew visiting from Australia.  The worst part, and the most part, was getting there and back. What google maps promised to be an hour and 45 minute sprint north-east turned into 3 hours of stop-and-go traffic in dull suburban exurbs full of IHOPs and random carpet warehouses.

We arrived at the farm in the early afternoon a bit flustered. Lula puked all over me and herself the moment we got there but after a quick change Elizabeth hunted down a wheelbarrow and we set off for the pumpkin patch.  We had been told to bring gloves and boots and shears and we were prepared.  Humph.  The “patch” was ridiculously picked over and nothing was actually attached to the vine.

Are you kidding me with this??

Most of the pumpkins were either already rotting or grossly deformed.  I saw a 6 year old glare at her dad and bark “this sucks!”  I happen to like pumpkins with character -lopsided, nubby, discolored- but it was still a challenge to find any that were adoptable. Except Roan, he fell in love:

A boy and his pumpkin

Tim initially didn’t want any pumpkins at all and then wound up getting the biggest one:

A man and his pumpkin

It was an absolutely glorious fall day, though, and the whole trip was possibly worth it for the opportunity to stick the boys in the wheelbarrow.

Charlie, Roan, and the harvest

The drive home was even longer, almost 4 hours to go about 65 miles.  The boys were SO good in the car, they chatted to each other, looked out the window and then nodded off. Lula fussed almost the whole time and eventually I took her out of her car seat and held her until she fell fast asleep.  We all got home absolutely shattered, not at all refreshed by the country air.  Next year it's bodega pumpkins or we rent a helicopter.

A sorry selection of pumpkins

A cute selection of boy

A lovely array of girls