A Lovely Fall Weekend

Hi there! I hope at least *some* of you have today off...I don't think I've ever had Columbus Day off in my life so I'm pretty grateful for this day to catch up on things. It's raining, surprise surprise, but that's okay! Perfect chance to get some quality blogging done...say it with me...HOORAY!

Alright, now that we've gotten that out of our systems, I'm going to bombard you with a photo essay of our quintessential fall weekend-- started off with some corn mazing, a little pumpkin patch action, some spooky small town visitation, a delicious fall dinner out, aaaand top it all off with some homemade pumpkin muffins! Fall has officially begun in my book when something citing pumpkin as the main ingredient is baking in the oven.

But to get things rolling, here we go to Scappoose, Oregon!

Davis making all the big maize decisions

What's that? Blue sky?! Oregon, you are too kind : )

Smiling despite the fear of being lost forever in a corn field

This corn makes me look really short...

A glimpse of the outside world...there is hope!

Aaaand victory!

Now we get to shop for pumpkins!

So many to choose from...

But due to lack of space, we went with this sweet little guys : )

That was fun! Onward to riverfront St. Helens, Oregon (sadly the mountain was not visible...)

This jolly fellow was there to greet us in the town square

Along with a really clever historical tweet-like Lewis and Clark journal-essay path...pardon the adjective overload

The lovely marina and more blue sky!

And this creepy fellow was one of many lurking around town...

It was nice to get out of the city for an afternoon on such a beautiful day...we rounded out the evening by heading to 23 Hoyt, a new (for us) restaurant that totally fit the bill for an autumnal feast. Enhanced by complimentary cauliflower and parmesan soup (incredible) and focaccia with whipped ricotta (Davis is still drooling), I got a well-rounded entree full of fall flavors and Davis got a juicy burger served on a wooden plank. That's my kinda place : )

Grilled pork chop with chive gnocchi, sage applesauce and wilted spinach...yes please

Dessert? very tempting...especially with that pine cone, but we're stuffed to the rafters

We'll be going back there very soon. A good Saturday. Last night, amidst some football and rain and banjo music, I whipped up an ad-libbed recipe for Whole Wheat Pumpkin Apple Crumble Muffins. May have to shorten that title. Either way, Davis gave them his seal of approval (and he doesn't even like pumpkin!) so I'm pleased, and they turned out pretty darn attractive if I do say so myself...which I'm sure has nothing to do with my photo styling ; )

Okay, the school work procrastination ends here...hope everyone has a great week!