Ashley Addington

Fall in New England wouldn’t be complete without a scenic drive and a visit from Greg’s family was the perfect reason to head out of the city for a day.

Bearskin's Neck in Rockport

Boats in Rockport Harbor

The view of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine from the Ocean Lookout at Halibut Point State Park

We spent the morning walking in Rockport, exploring the old Granite Quarry in Halibut State Park, and checking out antique stores in Essex. My favorite part of the day was our spontaneous visit to the famous Topsfield Fair. A few years ago, we watched a documentary called Lords of the Gourd: The Pursuit of Excellence on giant pumpkins (check out more information here) and since then, I’ve had a secret obsession with going to the Topsfield Fair to watch the Giant Pumpkin Contest. I had already researched the Topsfield Fair as a possibility for a visit on our excursion and since we were only a few miles away and looking for something do to in the afternoon, we headed on over.

Giant Pumpkins!

Close-up of the giant pumpkins.

Pumpkin vs. Man.

Weighing of the Pumpkins.

When we left, the largest pumpkin had weighed in at 660 pounds! The eventual winner weighed in at 1,668.5 pounds. A story about the winner is here. Before they weighed the pumpkins, they weighed and measured other vegetables in what was called “Xtreme Gardening”. The winners were a 160-pound watermelon, 14-pound rutabaga, 124-inch tall Gourd, and a 4-pound tomato. The giant pumpkins were pretty amazing to see and it was fun to sit in the stands and overhear all of the Giant Pumpkin farmers sitting close to use talk about how they grow their pumpkins.