Little Italy

I took a walk about in Little Italy with a couple friends this week. It was a relaxing and fun time. I'll start with the iconic sign hanging over the main street. For the photo techies out there all of these are hand held shots, no tripod involved and no special noise reduction applied, all edited in Lightroom.

The heaters were up and blasting although it was not a cold night. Folks in San Diego are not used to even the slightest chill in the air.

The store windows had some interesting displays.

While we wandered around we checked out the local eatery menus. We ended up deciding to stop in to The Burger Lounge for a bite to eat.

Filippi's is a place that is dear to my heart. I used to go to Filippi's with my Nana and my mom every holiday to pick up supplies for Lasagna and of course the antipasto.

Here is a link to a handful of shots I took this evening if you'd like to see more. You'll find some Halloween decorations in the mix here. Or view the slideshow it will be short and easy.

Bates Nut Farm

The San Diego Digital SLR group took a trip to Bates Nut Farm on the first day of their fall celebration. The pumpkin patch was open and there were more pumpkins and squash than I've ever seen in one place before. The group got there early but it didn't take long before the place was packed. Bates had a few dozen wheelbarrows for visitors to load with huge pumpkins. This was a great idea because some of the pumpkins were quite large and heavy.
It was a beautiful day. This location can get quite hot in the summer and this time of year but it was quite nice on this day.

The variety of pumpkins and squash was really quite impressive.

Butternut Squash is my favorite winter squash. I had to take home four of these beauties.

On openning day (this day) they hold a scarecrow contest. Folks bring in their entries and they line them all up on a fence for viewing and judging. The winning entries gets to be the official scarecrow display for the farm in the month of October. Prizes range from $200.00 cash and a $50.00 store credit for first place to a $75.00 store credit for fourth place.

And of course many parents want a photo of their youngsters in with the pumpkins. At times the wee tots were not too happy with the idea, but seemed to warm up eventually in most cases.

It was very fun and I highly recommend a visit to Bates Nut Farm for this event. If you have children they will have a blast picking out the perfect pumpkin. To see more of my photos from this visit and to see the expression of the darling above when she was first put in the pumpkins for a photo, click here for my Bates Nut Farm Photo Gallery