It was a weekend of festing.

Tara and I decided that we would adventure to Pumpkin Fest on Saturday afternoon. I heard there would be a giant pumpkin, and I enjoy all food products involving pumpkin, so I figured it would be a good way to spend my time.

Backed up in a surprising large amount of traffic en route to the festival, we slowly creeped by independent farms, adorned with vast expanses of pumpkins and usually a central funhouse, equipped with whatever pumpkin-themed funhouses could possibly have. It was quite enticing. However, we continued on, assuming that this was simply a preview of the general awesomeness that was to be the actual Pumpkin Fest.

We finally arrive in downtown Half Moon Bay, and we follow the crowd toward the festival. I want to stop at a coffee shop on the way.

So we order two iced pumpkin lattes (it’s only logical). We are waiting patiently to receive them when we are approached by a stranger.

Enter Zephyr.

Zephyr was kind enough to, without hesitation, provide us with detailed descriptions of surrounding pumpkin farms that are far more interesting than the festival itself. It was quite enlightening.

I asked to take his photo, wrote my website on a napkin for him, and we prepared to head on our way.

Next thing we know, Zephyr is joining us for our entire festival experience.

The festival was certainly interesting (though not remotely as interesting as we had hoped), and we ended up cutting our walkabout short. We said our goodbyes to our new friend Zephyr and headed on our way.

We couldn’t help but stop at the strange pumpkin fields on the way home. We also happened to find ourselves in a giant dinosaur sculpture park as well. Just another Saturday road trip.

Sunday I found myself on Treasure Island (that is really the name of the island… it sits in the bay between SF and Oakland), thanks to fantastic lad/production superstar Will Chase. Performances of note: Grizzly Bear, Beirut, Decemberists, Walkmen, Flaming Lips. Environmental details of note: Incredible SF skyline view, fun colored lights illuminating everything, pirate ship wagon, and air that was really fucking cold. Great time nonetheless.

Lastly, mustaches. In Sonoma Valley. I really don’t have much to say about them, other than it felt right at the time.

Thanks to Tara, Elaine, and Greg for being my extremely reluctant models.

I was going to do these for a history homework assignment, so I tried to make them look a bit dated. I ended up scrapping them though.

And the extras:

END!

Night three in Dinosaur, Utah. Back from epic camping adventure. We wanted to see what sort of tasty grub this town had to offer. We had the choice of about two restaurants. We went with logic and naturally chose the Dinosaur Cafe.

I feel it’s necessary to restate how epic the clouds are here. Upon our arrival at the cafe I witnessed glowing rain for the first and likely only time in my life. Glowing!

The cafe was a dive and it appeared to be devoid of any staff when we first arrived. For a minute I was unsure if there was some unsaid method of self-service that none of the regulars were telling us about. Maybe they just wanted to relish in our confusion just a little longer. We finally found the one waitress though. I had an insanely good BBQ sandwich. After our meal, we continued to sit awkwardly for about a half-hour until the waitress finally informed us that we pay at the bar. Now we know for next time.

And then we hit the bar. I say bar singular because there is ONE. I forget the name of it… something saloon. It was karaoke night.

You know how some bars attempt to embody a country-western theme? This bar epitomized everything you could envision a country saloon to be. And it was all real. Totally legit. Old paintings of naked girls in cowboy hats, antiques randomly strewn about the wall, lots of animal heads and horns hanging, and even saloon doors to get to the bathrooms. Country as country can be.

We spent the night drinking more beer that doesn’t work, teaching the bartender fun shot recipes, and watching Utah folk dance to Nelly and Kid Rock between karaoke rounds. This actually sparked my intense desire to have a Bowebirds/Megafaun/WellDoneMedia dance party as soon as possible. Basically the same thing that regularly happens in Raleigh, just in a different setting than the Jackpot. I’ll be sure let you know how that goes once it happens.

I will miss this crazy crazy state of Utah.

We drank wine and legitimate Ukrainian absinthe, read horoscopes, applied fake tattoos, ate lots of bread and hummus and avocados, cooked gourmet s’mores and listened to Liz serenade us on her guitar til the wee hours of the morning.

We all awoke early the next morning to the sun glaring down on the canyon, forming a nice atmospheric hot-pocket enclosing our campsite. We did some morning exploring until it was too hot to continue, then hopped back in the Dinosaur-mobile and trekked back to home base on the other side of the monument.

We did a bit of extra-sight seeing on the way, of course.


COW!


See that little canyon in there? That’s where we woke up.

END!