Pumpkins and Apples

After many days of rain, today we had sunshine and warmer daytime temperatures.  Dave didn't have to officiate any Saturday games this week, so we headed out for a drive.  As we drove north on I-5 to La Center, we noticed a sign saying that the rest area was closed.  It was another casualty of the government shutdown, I guess.  All of the national parks, rest areas, etc., could currently be open if the Senate had voted to accept that part of the budget.  But no, they would rather play the blame game.   I, for one, would like to see a smaller government but I'm not in favor of closing national parks or freeway rest areas, or the military, among other areas.  I wonder how many of those 95% of "non-essential" government employees actually are non-essential? 

We drove to a pumpkin farm south of La Center, but it was a bust, with a distinct lack of cars.  Yes, they had pumpkins in a field, but that's all they had.  We didn't bother to get out of the car.  We took back roads back to the freeway and then went to Joe's Place in Vancouver.

This place had what we were looking for.  In addition to people being there, they had several pumpkin displays and more importantly to me, apples.  I know that we can buy apples year round, but in the fall, I am always drawn to fruit stands offering apples.  

My favorite pumpkins were the Turk's turbans.  How colorful and unique!

Here is a picture of the assortment of apples that I bought, minus the one that I already ate.  Yummy!  All the apples were $1.49 per pound, so I put them all in the same bag and now I don't know which are which.  No stickers, like store-bought apples!

We had a fun afternoon while enjoying the nice weather. All three of the mountains we saw during our drive, Mount St. Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood, all had new snow covers, so all of that rain was good for something!