1. PUMPKIN NIGHTS FEST:
This incredible festival is only in a few select cities across the nation and it TRULY gets you in the Halloween Spirit. I am not a big Halloween fan, but Pumpkin Nights certainly got me itching to start decorating and prepping for the costumes and trick-or-treating! It is located at the state fairgrounds and the layout is masterful. You just walk along through different themes and the decorations are ALL made of pumpkins! It'll blow your mind!
There was Harry Potter-like feel with floating lit carved pumpkins and a real live owl photo op!
There was Latin America with beautifully haunting Dia de Muertos decorations. Just so pretty and colorful!
There was a journey to the center of the Earth with larger than life spiders and all sorts of creepy crawly things.
No haunting journey could be complete without a trip to the Caribbean complete with pirates and a place to dig for your own coins!
We visited Under the Sea and saw the prettiest sea urchins.
We also saw a fire breathing dragon and a trip to gnome land. It was enchanting.
2. SUNDANCE HALLOWEEN LIFT RIDE/ZIP LINE:
We cannot say enough great things about Sundance lift rides and for those who are more adventure - zip lines. We love to ride the lift during the summer, during a full moon at night and now at Halloween time for a spooky ride! It is certainly chilly during the evenings in the fall, but it is perfect for snuggling and feeling all the feels of Halloween. Be sure to bring a blanket for your lap and buy a hot cocoa for extra warmth! I am going to let this picture speak for themselves because they just scream autumn and fall and Halloween and all that means!
3. GLEN RAY'S CORN MAZE:
We found the greatest new corn maze/pumpkin patch in Utah County! It is conveniently located right off I-15 in Benjamin. And it just OOZES charm! Each area was well thought out to maximize the comfy, cozy feeling. The evening we visited it was a chilly 42 degrees, so I thought we would visit rather on the short side, but to be honest, we spend well over two hours and could have spent more!
The entrance is a giant wooden pumpkin display and which sets the tone for picture taking!
First off, the kids jumped onto the tractor pulled "train".
Then we ran to the HUGE hay stack. What is it about hay stacks that is just so fun? My kids climbed up and down and all around it and came back down covered in hay!
They also played in the corn pit (I am still finding corn in the washing machine, so you know that was a success)!
And of course, we had to spend a good amount of time on the two different types of slides!
This slide ends in the corn pit!
Then we headed to the Kiddie Corral. And I must admit that this is the cutest little area - there is a rodeo arena with those bouncy bulls and shoots and stick horses and barrels for barrel racing and cow roping! AGH! I pretty much died (and so did my kiddos), but my pictures of those are missing?! So, do yourself a favor and visit Glen Ray's in person.
And of course, they have giant checkers, and rubber duck drain pipe racing like every good pumpkin patch should.
After playing in the kiddie area, we headed into the corn maze. Our goal was to find all 10 pumpkin fairies for a treat (we only found 6). And as we were heading into the maze, we ran into Glen Ray's son, Rex, and he shared the history of the corn fairies. Apparently, his father, Glen Ray, used to leave sweet corn on neighbor's front porches and got caught, but he continued the tradition every summer until he passed away (the corn maze and pumpkin patch is on his farm property). Cool legacy to leave!