Enjoying the season

Fall is a totally packed season for me: lots of holidays, lots of birthdays, and as you may have noticed, lots of festivals. 
Managed to make it over to the chowder cook off yesterday, on Spectacle Island. The weather was perfect, warm enough to walk around with a T-shirt, but cool enough to want some chowder. The chowder fest was not as big as we had hoped, but we did eat some amazingly creative, yummy chowder. The salmon with rosemary was really great.

Spectacle Island is absolutely beautiful, and an amazing project. Built on a reclaimed landfill, there are paths around the whole island and you can walk to the top of the drumlins to get a great view of Boston and the other islands. Everything is green about the project, from the planting to the visitor's center which is solar powered, and so are all of the vehicles on the island. The ferry out there is $14 round trip, for both Spectacle and George's Islands. In the summer, you can swim on the beaches, and rent kayaks at both. Take a picnic or even a tent and camp overnight in the summer on George's.


The festivals I've been talking about continue throughout the month, and there's no way I can list all of them, but there are few more that I have to mention: 

Oktoberfest in Harvard Square is next weekend, Sunday October 10th. A parade leaves from Davis Sq and goes to Harvard Sq, where there will be lots of vendors, food, rides, all kinds of fun. Harvard Sq festivals are always packed but always a good time. Since there's no admission fee, even if you just pass through, it's totally worth it.  

Somerville Harvest Festival is also next weekend, on Saturday October 9th. It is ticketed, $20 gets you unlimited beer and tastes from all the various local restaurants. There are also bands playing, a fashion show, and you get to meet all kinds of interesting vendors. Last year's festival was great, I can't wait for this one! E and I bought our tickets early, but as I'm writing this I just checked, there are some tickets left. If you're free on Saturday, it's a great way to spend the day.

The Wellfleet Oyster Festival is becoming a tradition, and this year two of my sisters are coming, it should be a great time. It's the weekend of October 16th. The Oyster Festival is like a great town fair, just at a town that happens to be home to some of the best oysters in the world. There's a shucking contest, food from local restaurants (most of it features oysters), oyster shaped chocolates, a stage with various bands playing, a chance to learn about oyster farming, a road race, and I'm sure I'm leaving out more.

And, totally not on a schedule, apple picking is gonna be great all this month. My personal favorite place to go apple picking is Russell Orchards. They not only have great apples, they have wine, cider, donuts, ice cream, and all kinds of little gourmet treats. On the road to Crane Beach, it's the perfect place to stop by after a walk behind the dunes. In the summer, it can be way too hot to hike the trails behind the dunes, but on a nice sunny fall day, it's great.