Day 15: Pumpkin Festival...

Last Thursday Leslie and I decided to go to the West Virginia Pumpkin Festival, held in Milton, W.Va. We both really wanted to go, and with our trip to King’s Island on the same weekend, it was the best night for us to go.

This year’s festival was much more fun than last years. The best part, is that it wasn’t very crowded at all that night. There were no long lines, and not people to dodge while you’re looking around. Last year, it took over an hour for us to work out way into the parking lot for the festival. It was just insane. However, this year we just drove right through.

Another improvement this year was that they actually had Pumpkins, and pumpkin pie! They finally got it right!

We walked in with a great deal of excitement and were laughing at the fact that we were openly making fools out of ourselves. We were just both very excited and didn’t care to let everyone know it. As you walk in, you really get a sense of that you're about to take part of. Lined up, for all to see, are about 6 John Deer trackers. Yup. I really would have loved to have stood there all evening looking at those fine pieces of machinery.

Immediately we went for some food, and found the same Taco stand that we ate at last year. There, I had the best chimichanga that I have ever had. I kid you not, I have longed for another one every day since.

After we ate, we conquered the Pumpkin Festival in a very short time. It was in part because of the low attendance that night, but it was also because it was about the exact same as last year. There wasn’t a lot that was new to check out.

The arts and crafts booths were the same as what you'd expect. There were dozens and dozens of booths with the primitive decor that you can find anywere. At times, it was difficult to tell where you've been because so many of these booths looked the same. I never got into that country, primitive look. If you decorate with antiques, that's once thing. But buying new crap that is supposed to look like old crap just doesn't make sense to me.

My favorite vendors were the ones that offered free samples. Honestly, we didn't HAVE to pay for a meal there. We could have just walked around and got our bellies full with the samples they were handing out. We tried several different salsas, cakes, cracker spread, drinks...just about anything you can think of.

Some of the booths were just awkward and out of place…like the bathtubs and the FBI booth. I know there is money to be made by having these booths here, but they really take away from the whole thing.

We looked at the crafts, but there was really nothing special. Pretty much, the best thing about the pumpkin festival was the food. And we ate plenty of it. We had the tacos and chimichangas, pumpkin fudge, pumpkin ice cream, roasted corn on the cob, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin doughnuts, and a cartoon full of the marshmallows found in Lucky Charms. It was Heaven.