Lone musketeer.
At the Circle M RV Resort where we were staying in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Halloween came a week early. Like the Halloween we’d experienced the week before at the Gateway to Cape Cod campground, this one included elaborate decorations, costume contests, and swarms of kids in costumes. This time, though, we were prepared. We’d bought two giant bags of candy, painted a jack-o-lantern face on a pumpkin, and put the pets in costumes.
The costumes were Kate’s idea. Every year for the past 32 years, she’s used her sewing skills to create elaborate costumes for kids – ours and others’. It just wouldn’t be Halloween without it. So we went shopping the day before. She found a kid’s pumpkin costume at Goodwill that she managed to alter for Bailey, and rig up a little hat. And for Gypsy, a hamster pumpkin costume needed minor alterations to fit our growing teen cat.
Stoic pets.
These poor pets were not thrilled about their ridiculous attire. But they endured it so well. Once kids started coming for candy, Bailey realized the extra attention her costume bought her and milked it for all she could get. Gypsy simply succumbed to the humiliation and curled up in her bed next to us, trying to nap through the commotion. I couldn’t believe she didn’t even try to get her silly hat off.
Trick-or-treating was from 2:00 to 4:00. There were so many kids, coming so fast. I took photos of as many as I could, but it was such a whirlwind of activity, it was hard to keep up. We were out of candy within the first hour. But that didn’t stop kids from coming to pet our cute furry pumpkins. In fact, they didn’t even seem to care about candy when they saw Gypsy and Bailey in their costumes.
Psycho clown.
The partying went on well into the night, with hayrides and guided tours through the “haunted hollow.” This was a loop that was rigged up by campers as a scary walk-through. (The resort had offered free rent for all of October in exchange for their efforts.) I’d seen the area in the daylight and found it over-the-top creepy. Lots of blood and guts and cannibalism. Kate and I wandered back at night, but the sounds of chain saws and screaming was enough to keep us from going through it.
We missed seeing our friends this Halloween, but it was fun to have not one but two Halloweens before October 31st.