May-o-ween?

So a month ago or so on the way to Sydney with my parents, I saw a sign for a pumpkin festival. I thought "woo hoo! Pumpkins in May? That sounds novel!". I had visions of corn mazes, hay rides, and human sized pumpkins floating around in my head. I got even more excited when I read on the website that there was going to be pumpkin pie! How great would that be? You don't normally get pumpkin pie in the US until October or November.

So, I talk HA and Max into going with me on Sunday - it was about a 45 minute drive (kind of a big deal when your typical universe is only where you can walk). The day comes and it's absolutely beautiful outside. 19 degrees and sunny. Who could ask for a better day for a pumpkin festival. The festival was in Collector, a tiny little town of 150. We get there and there are hundreds of cars - the town has probably tripled in size. It's $5 per car - pretty cheap..and with all these people, it must be good.

Immediately, there are boxes that say "Pumpkins $5" - sounds great! I'd love to carve pumpkins in may. Except...wait..these pumpkins...what? They're green. Green? And the other pumpkins...they're funny shaped...like peanuts. What is going on here?? I look around and sure enough there are cut outs of orange halloween pumpkins...but where are they? So I look at HA all confused.."where are the orange pumpkins?" and he looks at me like I'm crazy. Apparently, they don't have orange pumpkins. Deep breath...ok, well, there's still the pumpkin pie.

The three of head off to find coffee and pumpkin pie. I look through all the food stalls but I don't see it. We ask the coffee lady but she's not from around here so she doesn't know. Finally, I ask a little old lady and she doesn't know either. We see a stall with pumpkin sconces and whoa! they have the pumpkin pies! But wait..they look lke meat pie. So I ask the man "Are they sweet or savory pies?" And again, I get a look like I'm crazy. Apparently, they're savory pies. Great. Well, alright, we'll try one. So Max and I buy one and we look at it skeptically. I take a bite and...I get pumpkin and celery. Celery? Yes, you read that right. Needless to say, Max and I had HA finish it. Again, disappointed.

But we made up for it by getting a post-mix at the Macca's in Goulburn. Gotta love the McDonald's fountain sodas. A lesson for my American friends..fountain sodas are called post-mix...and Macca's is McDonalds. Getting post-mix is a bit of a treat since most restaurants serve soda out of a bottle.