I often mention some of the fun things I do during the week. With a flurry of activities this week, it seemed as though I was on fall break instead of the children. The difference was I was not stressed out to go to anything this week.

Tuesday night, we drove out to the country to the McKinneys’ for a great meal. On the way out my husband pointed out to me every stop he makes on his school bus rounds. I feel I know every child personally because he has already come to love each one in such a short time and he talks lovingly about them at mealtime.

On Thursday, my friend M.K. and I went to Louisville. We toured Louisville stoneware, which is one of my favorite places to go in Louisville. If you love stoneware, I would recommend going to see this place.

We also made a trip to Jewish hospital to visit my sister-in-law, Peggy, who had just had open heart surgery. I am happy to say she is doing well now and hopefully will be going home from the hospital this week. Her recovery time is expected to be around six to eight weeks.

Thursday evening we went to the pumpkin patch at Iroquois Park. Wow — I could say that at least 100 times or more and it still not be enough to try to explain to you how amazing this place was. There are 5,000 pumpkins carved for viewing there. They are set amongst a trail of trees that you walk through.

There is honestly no way anyone can describe this to you because it would not give it credit. I have no idea how long the trail is but you do not notice it being long since you are amazed at what you are seeing. All along the trail music plays.

The pumpkins are carved to show everything from children’s books to adult books like Stephen King novels and others. Nothing is boring there. I even saw Howdy Doody so any age group is regaled.

A very touching part of the trail included those who had passed on this year such as John McCain, Barbara Bush and other noted people including those of the music world.

As we first went on the trail I noticed a pumpkin that said “I love you.” It was the only one that did not seem to go with the theme we were walking through but I really never thought that much about it.

Later, as the trail ended, we noticed another huge pumpkin, which, the size was not unusual but the wording on this one surely was. It read, “Anna, will you marry me?”

Among the hundreds or thousands who walked the trail that evening, we often saw a Navy seaman and his girlfriend walking along with us. We found out they were the ones getting engaged and they were right in front of us. They had a wagon drawn up to take the happy couple out of the park. I was asked to take a picture of them which I happily did. I can tell you he has strength because the pumpkin he held in front of them probably weighed about 60 or more pounds.

It was the perfect ending to the evening. We would suggest if you are going, to get there at least one and half hours early before it opens.

The gates open at 7 p.m., or dusk, and we were there at 5 p.m. We were first in line and we were so glad we were. We got really lucky and met two sweet ladies who also had been friends all their life. One lady named Regina was from Indianapolis and the other lady named Beverly was from Owenton, Ky. They helped to pass the time for us through conversations with them.

They learned all about us too. We did not learn quite as much about them we decided and laughed about that fact while going home that night.

We really enjoyed talking to them and found out they love barbecue. They told us a place to go for barbecue named Rubbies. They had just eaten there for the first time and were very impressed with Rubbies. Their talk about it made us want to go.

We also learned Regina was named Indiana’s Teacher of the Year last year and got to go to Washington D.C. to be honored.

She has taught school for many years and is hoping to retire soon. We felt honored to have met her and Beverly also.

Just as soon as the gates were opened, they told us they had enjoyed meeting us in case we did not see one another again.

Little did M.K. or I know how quickly we got lost from them because we never saw them anymore on the trail the rest of the evening.

When we left, we were amazed to see how many people had shown up for the pumpkin viewing. Some people had walked at least two miles to get in. This was even after three parking lots were filled up. Cars were lined up for at least two miles beyond and people were walking to the park.

We were so happy we had gone early. This was on a week night. We heard it is even worse on the weekends and I can only imagine.

On Friday, I went to Keeneland for the fall meet. I went with the Chamber of Commerce and had another enjoyable day.

Keeneland is beautiful this time of year and is a beautiful place to visit whether you are a better or not. It is fun to just go and watch the horses and the people. The food was delicious and it was fun being with other Winchester people.

Sunday after church, my husband told me we were going to Evans Orchard. I was again amazed at the crowd there. It was a fun afternoon watching the kids there enjoying their day. It is a great place to take a family on a fall day.

My husband had to have a caramel apple and I had to have caramel corn to eat. We came home with a bag of apples.

I noticed nearly every person leaving had a bag of something packing to their cars. Many had a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins or other goodies.

The weather has been perfect this week for everything I have gone to. Though it required a coat and gloves, it had just the right nip in the air to truly enjoy a crisp fall day.

As I always have said, Kentucky has something for everyone. Just enjoy it.

Sue Staton is a Clark County native who grew up in the Kiddville area. She is a wife, mother and grandmother who is active in her church, First United Methodist Church, and her homemakers group, Towne and Country Homemakers.