Out with 2500 of my closest friends...

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in the Great Northwest. In fact - it was almost too warm, but I'll take what I can get. Earlier in the week my camp friends invited me to join them for breakfast and time at the pumpkin patch. I do enjoy me some pumpkin patch. Except when it's like being at a very busy July day at Disneyland. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

We all met at a friend's house - but accommodating the group we had a 15 passenger van from camp to get about town in. Oh, yes, we were stylin'! Our first stop was The Original Hotcake House. This breakfast was good - no skimping on the bacon. I got the French Toast as the Hotcakes are the size a frizbees. We had a really great time - and should have stopped there.

But we managed to get back into the van and head out to Sauvie's Island. This is where there are a lot of great pumpkin patches in the greater Portland area. We rolled along, merrily gossiping about everyone we could think of...and then we came to back end of a very long line of cars. Yes, everyone in Portland wanted to get back to nature. We had to wait in lines to get on the hayride out to the pumpkin patch, to get food for lunch, to shop in the little "country" market. But the worst had to be waiting in line to use a sani-can in desperate need of pumping.

My friend Skippy and I were sitting on a bench waiting for everyone to be done in the market and she summed it up beautifully: "Well, that was hellish, wasn't it?" It also helps that she's Australian so no matter what she says, it's cool and funny. But yeah. Every step of the way was a challenge. But know this, dear reader: I will not stop going to the pumpkin patch - just that specific one. There are many other, less commercial patches that I will honor and enjoy. But this crappy one had this thing called the cow train - and you had to pay extra money to ride it. WHAT?!