Pumpkins and Rubens

Apparently inspired by my failed attempt at a "young adult group date," Gwyn organized a trip out to Trax Farms for a little fall fun. There was a good group of about 11 of us that headed out to the far.

I was hoping it was going to be like an Amish Green Bluff... I was wrong.

1) It took about 75 minutes to get there. It was not a matter of distance, it was silly traffic. I was amazing at how many people were out on the road at 2:30 on a Saturday!

2) There was only 1 farm, and 600-700 people. Not what I am used to at Green Bluff. I may be romanticizing it, but for some reason I remember it ration being more around 4 or 5 farms to 500-600 people at any one time. Because of this it reminded me more of a California 'farm' (not that there are farms in California (I know... I know... there is a lovely place called Bakersfield)).

3) There was no 'pick-your-own' pumpkin patch. I later found that you could pay $8 to take a tractor out to the field to then pick a pumpkin that you then had to pay for... Anyway, it was just a few piles of rather decent looking pumpkins. I felt as though this sort of kills the fun. You can find a giant pile of pumpkins at the grocery store (or here at Church, they really like to use this as a fund raiser).

4) General lack of "farm made" products. There was a lot you could buy; however, they were generally commercialized products. I want a McGlades pie!

Despite my silent bickering, it was a fun trip. And it was nice to see quasi-country for once in a long wile. After collecting an apt amount of pumpkins, hay and other fall decoratives we headed back to church. Seeing as we got back around 7 ish, we headed over to a bar/restaurant in Shadyside for dinner. I was told that this place was renown for their pizza, and upon looking at the menu, I spotted "The Ruben."

Yes, a pizza with sauerkraut, corned beef, Swiss cheese all on top of a 1000 island based sauce. The only thing that could have made it better was being on rye pizza crust. Yes, father, I thought of you. I quickly found 2 other people who shared my interest in such an odd pizza. It turned out the be rather tasty. In an odd way it reminded me of the legendary Brickhouse Gyro Pizza that Kirsten and I discovered. And all of my pizza mates didn't want the 3 left over pieces! Leftovers! However they went straight to the freezer seeing as I still have a pan and a half of enchiladas!   

It was a great time to get to know some more of the Shadyside "young adults." They are rather interesting people, and fun to be around.