Hallowe'en at Greenfield Village

Monique and I went to the Hallowe'en at Greenfield Village celebration with our neighbors Wendy, Anna, and Lexi Eckman. Every year they bring in the ghosts, ghouls, and a bazillion Jack O'Lanterns for a good old-fashioned fright.

Come along and stroll with us:

Monigue dressed as a ... well, a ... um, I dunno. You'll have to ask her yourself. I'm sure it was scary.

Our expedition (top, left-to-right): Anna Eckman, Wendy Eckman, Monique Magee, and (bottom) Lexi Eckman, who fainted after seeing the corpse coming out of the coffin in the Hearse behind them.

The Grim Reaper.

Uh-oh. There goes the sun. It began to get dark and spooky.

Hey, girls, why don't you stand by that fence so I can get a sunset photo? I'm sure it's safe.

Jack O'Lanterns as far as the eye can see. We talked to one of the volunteers about them. They have to carve more than a thousand new Jack O'Lanterns every weekend. Volunteers carve most of them, and some of the most complicated designs are carved by a robot.

The Jack O'Lanterns lined the entire pathway we followed. They were an amazing display. I've never seen anything like it on that scale.

The Wizard of Menlo Park. Literally.

Snoopy O'Lantern!

There were some amazing costumes on display.

Monique, Wendy, and Anna had to stand in back to watch the old Hallowe'en cartoon because some witch was in the front row and everybody was too afraid to sit next to her.

Probably a Grateful Dead tribute band.

The haunted covered bridge. This was my favorite display of the night. Inside was thickly fogged with truly eerie lighting.

Living scarecrow. He leaped off his post moments later.

The bride on the balcony.

Jack O'Lanterns piled high.

The pirate cove.

Igor busy at work.

Witch Hazel's Broom Lot.

Anna and Lexi try out a gently pre-owned ride, used by a little old hag who only used it to go to coven meetings at midnight of the full moon.

A performance of Hansel & Gretel.

A haunted bell clock.

More Jack O'Lanterns piled high.

And even higher ... an entire Jack O'Lantern tree!

Haunted mill.

And then the Headless Horseman came by and lopped off all of our heads.

The end.

The 2013 Windsor-Detroit MG Club Fall Colors Tour

Come take an autumn drive with John and Monique and about 25 British sports cars from the Windsor-Detroit MG Club on the club's final driving expedition of the year, the Fall Colors Tour.

We gathered in the parking lot of the Ward Presbyterian Church in Northville: 

The first part of the drive took us up and down Hines Drive, a lovely windy road with the fall colors at peak. We followed another black MGB, a lovely 1980 Limited Edition model:

The end of Hines Drive.

But not the end of the cruise. We were off to the Ostbaum Orchard for cider and donuts.

Ooops. I know this is hard to believe, but one of our old British sports cars, a red MG Midget, suffered an electrical failure. Fortunately, a dozen of us quickly gathered around to offer contradictory advice, while another half-dozen gathered to give advice about the advice giving. 

Rather more fortunately, one guy in the crowd both knew what he was doing and had a circuit tracer in his car -- an excellent acoutrement for the antique British sports car owner. With a loose ignition wire hooked back up we were soon back on the road.

After a few wrong turns that left British cars scattered all about Western Wayne County, most of us managed to make it to Ostbaum's: 

 

In addition to the MGs, the expedition had several Triumphs and a trio of Austin-Healey 3000s. This was one of the Austin-Healeys.

After an excellent round of cider and donuts it was time to hop back in the cars...

And head on down the road...

To the Deadwood Bar & Grill in Northville:

Where a fine afternoon meal was had by all. We hope you all enjoyed our ride, too!

Special thanks to Ed Fleming for organizing the event again this year. It was a great afternoon of Autumn driving!