Part of moving into a new house with plants, if you’re me anyway, means you have no idea what most of the plants are going to do. So the year may bring surprises.

We got a pleasant surprise last week when the large bushes in our front yard exploded with deep red blooms. I think they are chrysanthemums, but if you know better please share.

So pretty, I had to take photos:

I like how it almost looks rainbow in the background here:

I gave this one a different color treatment and liked it so much it’s my desktop background now:

I have been taking walks with Lucy every day, enjoying the beautiful colors of the changing leaves in the neighborhood. Unfortunately it is near-impossible to take photos with Lucy on the other end of the leash. She tugs and wants to go-go-go (except when she wants to stop-stop-stop and smell, that is). Anyway she was napping with Peter this morning so I sneaked out of the house and took a leisurely solo walk to get a coffee and snap some photos.

The walk was pleasant, except that I noticed almost all the people I passed today were either antisocial or deaf, because I said “hello” to every passer-by and got either outright ignored or a bewildered stare.

Thank you to the lone man I passed as I neared home who finally answered me with an enthusiastic HELLO!

Carving pumpkins can be fun as a group activity, I suppose, but I always hate how messy it is and how temporary your hard work is.. the carved pumpkins tend to look wilted and sad in a matter of days. I prefer to paint my pumpkins. I unpacked my acrylics and got to painting the pumpkins we got from Roloff Farms.

Classy Argyle Pumpkin

Two sides to a Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) pumpkin:

So far I am pretty sure their only audience is the mail lady. I am hoping we get lots of trick-or-treaters for halloween… at our place in St. Louis we got zero children. Oh how we drowned our tears that first Halloween in a bag of fun sized candy bars. I need to ask a neighbor how much candy I should buy… I do NOT want to be stuck with tons of leftovers. Or worse, run out.

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Although I’m happiest as a warm weather girl, I can get into fall and one of my traditions is getting pumpkins to put on my front stoop! Rather than go the grocery-store route we decided to visit our first pumpkin patch this year! And we did it right – we visited Roloff Farms in Helvetia, Oregon just about a 30 minute drive from Portland.

This farm is a bit famous, as the family that owns it are the stars of the TLC reality show “Little People Big World“. I have only seen a few episodes of this show but the Roloffs seem like a hardworking, loving, and fun family – and we were lucky enough to see them in person and take a tour of their farm.

Admission to the farm is free, but parking is a small fee. You can also pay to take one or both of the tractor ride tours around their property. Pumpkins are 35 cents a pound.

We took both the tours and they were guided by close friends of the family. One of the tours was driven by Zach Roloff himself:

Here’s Matt Roloff (in the red):

and Amy Roloff (middle of photo, black vest white shirt… lots of people lined up to meet the supermom):

Yes they were filming that day. As a former video major in college, camera crews and equipment always interest me so I was just as fascinated with the production as everything else going on. The Roloff property is a-maz-ing. Those are some lucky kids. I mean for the twin boys’ birthday one year their dad got them a life-sized pirate ship to play on.

They also have an absurdly-detailed Wild West village, a full castle, numerous forts, sand volleyball court, regulation size soccer field, heated pool, and who knows what else. And not all of these were bought on their reality show royalties either. It was inspiring and visually exhausting to see all the vision and work put forth. It’s a place you would never need to leave, their own little world. Here’s just a few photos from the tour:

Bridge to Nowhere

Oh right, the whole reason we came. Pumpkins!

Our friend Andrew:

I found a good one!

Roloff Farm is only open to the public during the month of October each year, so make your plans to visit!

After we visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory Tour we drove through the little mainstreet of Tillamook – lots of cute storefronts and restaurants – before heading toward the coast and Cape Meares, about a 20 minute drive. The drive, however, is gorgeous. The winding coastal road reveals views of  the bay, cliffs, rocks, farms, and beaches. So pretty!

Our destination, Cape Meares, is both a park and a light house. Admission to both is free.

The light house is no longer working.. apparently nowadays with GPS they aren’t really needed anymore. But we got to walk around the giant lamp and admire the craftsmanship. A guide explained how it was ordered from France and shipped across the seas for months, and craned above the cliffs to where it is now. Wow!

There is a gift shop in the base of the light house with knick knacks. But the best part of Cape Meares is the scenery overlooking Tillamook Bay.

Closeby is a path to what they call the “Octopus Tree” – a remarkable multi-trunked Sitka Spruce with a trunk circumference of about 50 feet. It is quite large in person.

After the park we had to head back to Portland, but there are other things to do in & near Tillamook – notably an air museum which looks fascinating. If I went back I would definitely spend time walking around the town also, or check out one of the beaches.