Half Moon Bay is a beautiful coastal town in the Bay Area. Lucky for us, it’s just a 30 minute drive from our home! During the summer or warmer months, we love spending our afternoons on the beach there. In the Fall, the entire town turns very festive for Halloween, with lots of pumpkin patches and a popular Art & Pumpkin Festival every year that brings a ton of traffic there.
Our trips to Half Moon Bay are typically day trips, so when Alan invited us to join him at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay for his 3 day conference in October, we quickly packed our bags in preparation for a luxurious “staycation”. 🙂
In previous years, we’ve mostly gone to the 2 pumpkin patches right off of 92–Pastorino Farm and Lemo Farm. This year, since we had a few days in the area, I decided to venture off the beaten path a bit to explore other farms.
On the first day, I signed Bridgette up for a pumpkin carving class with other homeschoolers, at Bob’s Pumpkin Patch. It was quite an interesting class. The kids first learned about the history of Halloween and Jack O’ Lanterns. Then, they walked the pumpkin patch together to learn the tips of picking just the right pumpkin. After everyone picked their pumpkins, they learned carving techniques that helped them to create their own unique jack o’ lanterns.
We really liked Bob’s Pumpkin Patch, as it has a ton of pumpkins (of all shapes and sizes) to choose from, a beautiful view of the coast, and a little zoo that houses piglets, a giant white turkey, and baby goats.
Our second day was spent exploring the hotel itself. Bridge got to enjoy the massive indoor swimming pool which she had all to herself, and we enjoyed quite a few meals in the Conservatory. In between bouts of rain, we took a walk to the beach and just stood there for nearly an hour watching the waves and smelling the ocean scent.
On our third day, we hit Arata’s Pumpkin Farm for their hay maze, which turned out to be way harder than I expected. It took us over 30 minutes to get through the maze, and we heard from other parents that it can take over an hour at times! Due to the rain, the grounds were muddy and slippery, which made it even harder to maneuver through the maze. Let’s just say I was very relieved to have gotten out before the downpour. 🙂
See it all in action on Bridgette’s YouTube videos here!
