Have you seen the fares to Europe for this winter? Cheap. Dirt cheap. I'm dying to go. Jen tried to talk me into seeing Prague, and I wouldn't mind Amsterdam as an alternative. I think I might like to give myself a graduation present of one week in chilly, damp northern Europe.
Wait, what am I thinking?
At any rate, I'm suffering from serious travel lust and I can't quite fix on the perfect place for a weeklong getaway. I feel as though I should do something glorious to celebrate my big achievement, but I'm a little worried about my job. Well, not my job so much as my industry. I am sorry to report I've had plenty of time to study at my desk this week. Not many calls, not many visitors. Oddly, the few people who are making reservations are booking the high-end stuff. I guess the economy isn't affecting them. Maybe they sold their dot-com stock before it all tanked.
The farmers in Half Moon Bay are certainly worried about the economy, but that's not all they've got to occupy their minds. Apparently the constant oneupsmanship among the pumpkin patches, a yearly competition to lure jack'o'lantern shoppers to this or that farm, has made a jumbo leap into outright absurdity: one farm brought in Asian elephants this year and are offering rides at four bucks a pop. It started with haunted houses and hayrides, escalated to face painting, clowns, and mazes, and now elephants. What next, dinosaurs?
Half Moon Bay, a small town (population: 11,842) on the coast with only two main roads, expects 250,000 people to descend upon them this Saturday for the annual Pumpkin Festival. Traffic is going to be a nightmare. I kind of wanted to go, I'd like to check out the winners of the growing contest -- I think the winner weighed about the same as my car -- but maybe I'll just get my pumpkin at the grocery store. Less elephant poop and exhaust fumes involved.
Boy, going to the pumpkin patch isn't what it used to be when I was a kid. Of course, that's true of practically everything by now.
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