Better late than never… I finally have a few minutes to describe my fun-filled Halloween weekend. :)

It was just me for the weekend, since Jeff was in San Francisco for a trade show. Saturday afternoon, I met up with Marianne, Anastasia and some visiting friends of hers for a trip up to Lombardi Ranch in Santa Clarita, a farm where they do a big pumpkin patch/petting zoo/hay rides kind of thing every Halloween.

It was packed. And, I have to say, slightly more fun than I expected! There were thousands of pumpkins laid out on the ground for people to choose from, and kids running around trying to carry pumpkins that were too big for them. In the middle of everything was a huge pile of hay bales you could climb up for a better view. A little tram and several horse-drawn, hay-filled carts offered rides around the outside of the farm. Sunflower fields bounded two sides of the place (the sunflowers were rather past their prime, though), there was the promised petting zoo (with a baby llama!), caramel apples, corn on the cob, etc. Quite a place! It’s probably slightly more fun with kids of your own. We skulked around with telephoto lenses, trying to take pictures of other people’s cute kids while trying not to look like creepy stalkers.

It also really made my day when I spotted a tiny Boba Fett among the pumpkins:

I would definitely go back next year – especially if I can convince some of our kid-laden friends to come along.

Sunday, I mostly took it easy – puttered around, went and swam my daily laps, fiddled with my laptop. In the evening, I went up to Michelle’s beautiful house in the “Bungalow Heaven” neighborhood of Pasadena – seriously, I never get sick of visiting her place! She goes nuts for Halloween (kind of the equivalent of me for Christmas). The house, which already has a very autumnal color scheme inside, was totally decked out with harvesty and halloweeny decorations; she got fires going in the living room and out back (nice outdoor fireplace and sitting area), made pumpkin pie, spread Halloween children’s book all around the house (note: Michelle has no children; she just likes children’s books!), and invited a few people over to hang out for the evening. It was mostly friends from her Renaissance Fair group, but I make friends pretty quickly and felt right at home. :)

One guy, Jeff, brought over a “Fairy Tale Pumpkin” to carve. Picture a normal pumpkin. Now make it a deeper, darker shade of orange. Make the bulges MUCH bulgier in all dimensions, and the creases MUCH deeper, and voila: fairy tale pumpkin. It really did look quite cool – especially after Jeff tipped it up on its side and carved a wicked little face on it.

After dinner, we took turns walking around Michelle’s neighborhood. One block to the west of Michelle is The Place to Be on Halloween. Almost every house on that street goes nuts, and I mean really nuts with the decorations – full-blown haunted house kind of stuff, often with music, fancy lights, sound effects, etc. And more jack-o-lanterns than I’ve seen in years! Kids get trucked in from all over Los Angeles to this area; the sidewalks were downright crowded. I felt like I was at an amusement park instead of walking around a normal neighborhood! The cutest costume was a little kid dressed up like Max from Where the Wild Things Are, with the white furry suit, black tail, and crown. There were also quite a few tiny Spidermen.

Michelle was a big hit with parents and kids alike: she decked herself out in her Jedi costume and carried around a very authentic looking/sounding light saber. There were a lot of muttered “Star Wars!” exclamations in her wake. Here’s a picture of the costume taken a few months ago (and no, the light saber is NOT photoshopped, except at the very tip where it overlapped some door frame):