Thing 76: Cox Farms

I am in something of a panic, because this is the last of the Things in my back pocket, and it hasn't even been a week of NaBloPoMo...So, God help me, but there's gonna be something in this space tomorrow, just don't ask me what.

Actually, I've had this one in my back pocket for so long, that the season is now over. So, um, you all will have to wait another year for pumpkin mania at Cox Farms. The good news is that they are reopening later this month for Christmas themed festivities, including Christmas trees, wreaths, and Santa Claus! And if their Christmas festivities are anything like their celebration of the fall, then it will be completely over the top.


I know I've talked about how much I love summer, but there is really something amazing about fall, don't you think? Not only is it my birthday and Halloween, but butternuts and apples come into season, and I get to start wearing scarves again, which are my favorite accessory. The air smells woodsy and the nights are crisp.

October of last year, Jenny and I went to a pumpkin patch and bought a couple of pumpkins and came back to her apartment to eat apple butter, drink mulled wine and carve them into a little mini pumpkin play. Obviously, we needed to repeat that again this pumpkin season. Unfortunately, we couldn't remember where we'd gone last year, and after some Internet research, we decided that we must have gone to Cox Farms.


Boy were we wrong. Our pumpkin patch of last year was the amateur hour compared to the extravaganza awaiting us at Cox. Five slides! Hot cider! A twenty minute long hay ride that led us deep into the heart of darkness! A milking show! Piglets! Pumpkin Butter! Caramel apples and kettle corn! Cox is a fall lover's dream come true.

Boy, that hayride though was something else. I'm not a country girl, so for all I know, hayrides are supposed to be 20 minutes long and take you past live action aliens, Charlie Brown, Pokemon and Disney characters, the Clintons wearing beanies, safari animals and scary witches. We got "stuck in the mud" until "Farmer Big Head" came out and clapped his hands and set us free. We stopped in a "haunted barn" where the lights went out and flashing lights and loud music went off. The kids seemed to be enjoying it, which I suppose is the point, but Jenny was terrified and I was confused. See video below:


We also slid down a great big tall slide, holding hands and giggling all the way. We saw baby piglets, which were oh so cute and will taste so delicious in only a few months' time. And there was a milking show, where Farmer John brought out Bessie the Cow, on a stage, and showed people how to milk her, while the audience sat on bales of hay. Americans seem to long for a time when they were connected to the earth and their food supply, and are now reduced to reconnecting with these elements in a variety act. Oh, America. I love you so.


On our way out, we went through the country store, of course, where we could select one free baby pumpkin, and stock up on fancy gourds and seasonal preserves. Cox farms' pumpkin butter is amazing, and I have managed to eat my way through the entire jar and now must either make my own, or wait until they re-open for Christmas...

Which doesn't sound like such a bad idea to me.

Thing 75: Organize a Scavenger Hunt

A city-wide photo scavenger hunt, my friends. I organized a city-wide photo scavenger hunt for my birthday. Because drag queens and orcas and Creme just weren't enough, I wouldn't rest until rogue teams of costumed individuals roamed the streets of DC harassing tourists and slamming back sangria. It was everything I had hoped it would be.

I had been dreaming about this event since I casually mentioned it to a friend in January for his birthday and he passed on the idea. I realized I was relieved, because I wanted the idea for myself. Then came Urban Dare, and it made me want to organize my own version that much more. And so, as the Saturday before Halloween dawned clear and the previous night's rain dried up, I met my friends in Dupont Circle to let the games begin.

This was incredibly fun and relatively easy to plan, and I urge you all to do this too (or, as the entrepreneurial Boyfriend insists I mention -- I will do it for you, for a nominal fee). Teams met in Dupont Circle at 2, and were handed a list of over 60 places, things, people, foods and drinks, all of which were weighted with different point values based on distance and/or difficulty in obtaining. I did it this way, rather than with clues or a shorter list, so that I could play too. There was an element of strategy involved this way that did not guarantee that I would win (and boy, did I not win. My team got smoked in fact). The teams then had four hours to run around the city, collecting as many photographs off the list as they could in an attempt to get the highest point total.

The list included everything from the DC specific (the point where the four quadrants begin, Duke Ellington's childhood home, Dorothy's ruby slippers), to the crafty (on 'spinning' bikes, in an elevator, playing shuffleboard), to the embarrassing (a tourist with a fanny pack, three tourists doing the "Charlie's Angels" in front of the Spy Museum), to local foods and drinks (sangria at Jaleo, a Julia's empanada, a salty oat cookie from Teaism). Extra high marks were awarded to the damn near impossible - 150 points for either a U.S. Senator, or George Clooney (who was in fact in town filming a movie that weekend). No one managed to snag a picture with George or a U.S. Senator, although our team did do a sweep of the men's rooms at Union Station.
Since it was the Saturday before Halloween, costumes were encouraged, but not required. One team showed up in some amazing lederhosen, which led to one of my favorite moments of the whole afternoon. Stopping at Jaleo for a quick sangria, the bartender told us that there had been another team in to do the same thing earlier in the afternoon. "They were dressed like Keebler Elves, but taller," he informed me.

At 6:30, all the teams met back up at Ben's Chili Bowl for dinner, cake and prizes. First prize went to team No Pugs with an amazing and unbeatable 515 points. The prize is a dinner cooked by me, so really, I was going to be a winner no matter, sharing food with good friends sometime soon.

You can check out all the wacky and ridiculous pictures here. And if you'd like to do one of these yourself in the future...do it! I will be happy to help, just leave a comment and I'll get right back to you.

Thing 74: Misha's Coffeehouse and Coffee Roaster

Piano jazz is tinkling out of the speakers in the corner. The air is rich with the burnt toast smell of dark roast coffee. Tribal women drumming in thick gold frames stare down at me from bright yellow walls.

I am at Misha's, with a latte and a crossword puzzle on a chilly Saturday afternoon.

Like all the best coffee shops, this one is quirky and community-oriented. A mix of the neighborhood pops in for hot drinks in the cold weather. At the tables sit students and families, a man studying poker, old friends catching up. The two people next to me are discussing their blogs, which I'm now blogging about. In a cute twist on the community bulletin board, a 1950's non-functioning refrigerator sits by the door with community announcements taped to it, like the proud pop quiz of a child.

At the front of the store, customers are greeted by a long counter with large glass jars filled with different varieties of roasted coffee beans. The menu is spelled out above the bar in refrigerator magnet letters. Those big, blocky, multicolored magnets that are impossible to read. But once you've deciphered the menu and placed your order with the nice young women behind the counter, you are handed a cup of what Misha's boasts is "the best coffee you'll ever have."

I'll bet murky would disagree, but it is awfully good coffee. My latte is rich and satisfying, without any bitterness, and the foam is thick and velvety, surpassing its lot in life as skim milk. My beverage isn't a work of art, but then again, I guess it is not necessary for my coffee to win a beauty contest.

When ordering, I was distracted by a covered dish of the most beautiful cupcakes I've ever seen. They are iced to look like flowers, a bouquet of little cakes. Unfortunately, I've just come from working at the chocolate shop, so I'm plenty full of sugar. I pass on the cupcakes, but my eyes feast on them while I linger at the counter. I'm guessing it's not every day that someone asks to photographs the cupcakes, and the woman behind the counter tells me that they're made locally. Just some guy who makes the cupcakes in his kitchen and delivers them to Misha's, along with the coffee cakes. Sir - if you are reading this, you are truly an artist.

With latte in hand, I wander into the green room to my right. It's a smoking room, which manages to completely disorient me, so used DC's smoking ban am I. It takes me a solid seven seconds to realize what that smell was, that there were ashtrays on the table and that, oh yeah, this is Virginia. Luckily, the smoking room is closed off enough from the rest of the shop that the smoke is non intrusive in the rest of the cafe.

I wander back into the main room, painted the shade of egg yolks, and take a seat at a small white marble table. I take out the crossword and get down to business. I stay for only an hour, watching people come and go, and then finish up my latte and leave the warmth of the shop for the cold outside.