Day 303: Pumpkin Adventure

One of my favorite things about the fall is the abundance of pumpkins and pumpkin flavors everywhere. Yesterday we visited the beautiful Shangri La Gardens in Orange, Texas, where we saw a very cool and creative scarecrow exhibit. The park itself had an incredibly serene and peaceful vibe and the beautiful moss draped trees standing stoically in the middle of the pond and the expansive clear blue sky only added the park's beauty. The walkways were lined with fat melting pumpkins and plantings of rich orange marigolds, which in my opinion are the perfect fall accent. My husband and I got married in the fall nearly four years ago and the botanical garden where we held our ceremony was similarly decorated. It brought back many wonderful memories of that day. There will be more about that later but for now let me get back to the pumpkins.

We began the day with one of my all time breakfast favorites: homemade pumpkin muffins. I baked some plain and some with chocolate chips. If you have not had pumpkin with chocolate chips, you seriously have been missing out and I highly recommend that you put it on your short list of things to try. Pumpkin and chocolate chips in muffins, breads or pretty much anything that can be eaten is one of the best flavors in the world. My pumpkin adventure expanded this afternoon to include my first pumpkin spiced latte of the season from Starbucks and I am seriously considering ending today's pumpkin adventure with a slice of chocolate chip pumpkin bread, also baked this morning. 

There is only thing I can think of right now that may be better than the thought of gobbling up a slice of chocolate chip pumpkin bread and that is the anticipation of the Mexican tortilla casserole that my mom is making and the guacamole, salsa and chips waiting to be eaten with it. But notice that I say "may" be. I will have to get back to you on that one. For now, I will succumb to the smells of baking cumin-scented tortilla casserole with salsa and black beans luring me to the kitchen. 

 One of my favorite "scarecrow" exhibits...

Some of the pumpkins were even hanging in the trees! 

These two were the scariest scarecrows we saw.