A haunting we will go...

Went for a wee family outing in search of some other haunts.  Or as Sam put it, "checking out the competition."  We first went to my personal mecca, on 1152 Stratford Ave, 1145 E. 84106  It's on a corner and it's this lovely haunt that this woman has been doing for 25 years (#goals) and there's not really a theme other than just ALL THE HALLOWEEN!  It ranges from spooky to more scary,  but there are at least 80 (more like a hundred at this point) pumpkins, mostly foam, some real.  And lights.  Oh, the lights.  This woman knows how to do Halloween display proper.  You don't. neglect. the. lights.  I try and stop by every year and gawk.  Got to chat with her this year and she pointed out some of the new stuff--there's always at least one or two additions.  She picked up some fancy lights that she used really well.  Just lovely. 

The second stop was to the now infamous 9th street (900 S, 1700 E.) that does amazing designs (dragons, pirate ships, trains, etc) but that are over the top epic.  This year was King Kong.  We almost missed it driving by just because the trees out front somewhat hid the lights.  But the building is like a full story taller than their house.  I checked out the how to that they did--which is incredible to see how it all came together. 


After that we drove by a couple of side streets with smaller decorations.  Mom knew about one that had a full on haunted graveyard complete with hearse.  But as it turned out, NO lights.  *gasp* Like, what is the point of doing a haunt that NO ONE can see at night.  I was a little offended, not gonna lie.

Anyways, a great little last Halloween jaunt.  I picked up pizza for my actors for tomorrow night, and I've spent the day giving the pumpkins baths, freshening them up so I don't have to do it tomorrow--because I have to put down the chalk at some point.  I'll make a run for some dry ice around 4ish, then it'll be settling in to make sure everything gets turned on.  Most things are on timers, but I do have a few things that need to be manually set up--mostly the snake projector and some tea lights in the goblets, but other than that we should be all set.  Getting excited!!