To get to Half Moon Bay, heretofore referred to in the local gangsta speak as HMB, you hop on hwy 92 and drive west until you come to the ocean. I let Valerie drive because she tends to get car sick on windy (as in very winding - not as in very blowing) roads, and 92 is super squiggly. You know you're getting close because you pass a field of pumpkins.
Then you pass another, and another.
And then you pass 2 more.
And then you pass another.
And another.
And, you guessed it:
A bunch of metal dinasaurs.
Once we got there, we followed the crowd to an empty field with a guy taking $5 to let you park. He had no uniform or anything, so for all we know he was some homeless guy who once asked someone for five bucks, and upon seeing him receive that money, everyone else decided he's the guy to pay.
Anyway, we walked from the parking field down the main street and came to a booth run by some organic snack food company. They were giving away free samples so Val and her friend Lora (who brought her family too), grabbed as many as they could carry and started stashing them in every nook they could find in our strollers. As we continued walking down the street we noticed that there was a line of people a block long waiting to get the samples. We totally cut in front of everyone!
After deciding that we may have a couple hundred people mad at us, we decided to get lost in the crowd, so we visited all the craft booths. It was your average street festival type of set up - times 3! Tons of booths selling paintings, photos, jewelry, pottery, puppets - all the stuff you expect to see - just a lot more of it.
There were several new ideas that we saw though. (Disclaimer: "New" to me. Maybe its all some ancient art that you already deem obsolete, but it was new to me) This is where I derived the name of this post. We took pictures of everything and I am sharing them here with you all because I'm sure you'll flatter the artists by imitating them - or by just flat out stealing their ideas.
The first is probably not that new, but I saw a bunch of people walking around with their new purchase, and I don't remember seeing this exact implementation.
It's vinyl nonsense signs on glass or Plexiglas in a frame. You can fit a lot more nonsense in a picture frame!
Next, we have framed pictures made from polymer clay. They are dimensional, but still pretty shallow so they don't feel like deep shadow boxes. Some are matted a different levels so it feels like it all belongs together, rather than a matte on one plane and the image on another. The style totally reminded me of Mom.
Next are quilted quiet boxes. They had quiet books too like the ones that have a pocket on each page where you hide a soft little animal. These boxes were the same idea - just in box form.
The last craft is these cool "crazy" bird houses.
So after loosing the mob in the craft booth crowd, we checked out some of the other sights.
Giant pumpkins!
Giant pumpkin carving! (And No, I don't mean pumpkin carving being done by larger than life people.)
Soon it was time for a potty break. If only we could find a toilet.
It turns out that the toilets were the only place without a crowd.
While there we made a discovery.
Apparently the toilet was haunted.
That's a joke (though they were very scary). It's a little funnier when you follow the signs to the actual haunted house and find an outhouse at the beginning.
We took all the kids (except Zoey) through the "Family Friendly" haunted house. It was pirate themed and all the scary actors were kids, so it was just right for even Xander. A little scary - but not too much. The kids all loved it the most out of the whole day.
I think I did to.
Well, that and the fact that BYU was able to win even without my support.
Not going to San Diego was definitely the better choice!
