Well, I’ve made it through another year. It’s been a long year, between Covid and quitting my job, starting this blog, and working on various self-improvement plans. Not a whole lot has changed in the grand scheme of things. This year, though, I’ve been vaccinated, and I had the chance to go out to celebrate!
Those of you who know me already know, but if you don’t, I don’t mean go out to bars or parties. I got to FINALLY visit my first sunflower field! It may be hard to believe, since I named my blog after them, but I’ve never been to a full-on sunflower field before. Well, now I have!
One of the local farms we like to visit, Gull Meadow Farms, has been running a sunflower field for a few years now. The first year I found out about it, I wasn’t able to make it because I only found out the weekend it happened and other things came up. The second year, I had to work every weekend and never got the chance to go. Last year it was cancelled, because Covid was in full swing and everything was being locked down.
This year, finally, I was able to attend. And boy, was it worth the wait. The weather was almost perfect (maybe a little humid from rain the day before), and it wasn’t very crowded, unlike every other event we’ve attended at Gull Meadow. I don’t know if it was because you had to buy tickets for this one, or if it was just the time of day we went.
Our entry tickets came with the chance to pick one sunflower each, so we grabbed a pair of clippers and set off into the maze. Very little of the field was neat, clean rows. Most of it was densely packed sunflowers with a winding path through, though we were allowed to go off the beaten path if we wanted a particular flower.
Did you know there are dozens of varieties of sunflower? There were 24 different varieties just planted in this field. Small flowers, big flowers, deep red, pale yellow, and even some extra-fuzzy flowers, all mixed in with one another. It took quite a bit of wandering before I decided what two I wanted, and even then, I was tempted to buy more. We just spend an hour and a half wandering in a field of the best flowers ever.
Did I mention the bees? There were thousands of bees enjoying the flowers too. I’m not allergic, but I’m cautious, and I didn’t want to disturb them. So, I sent my partner out through the untamed rows to pick the first one: a Procut Plum (or Procut Red? Not entirely sure.) The second was right near the path, a Double Quick Orange (I think!)
At this point, we decided to call it. The heat was starting to get to us, so we bought an iced apple cider and made our way to the next part of my birthday celebration: dinner! I couldn’t decide whether to eat out somewhere, or have my partner make me something, which is what I usually do.
As it turns out, on the way to the farm, we passed by a seafood restaurant I’ve never tried before. More importantly, they do seafood boils, which I’ve never had and always wanted to try. So, try it we did! I went all out and got a special with Dungeness crab, crayfish, shrimp, and sausage.
I actually had to do a quick search online just to figure out how to eat crayfish. I’ve never had them before! Sadly, I think they were my least favorite part of the meal. The shell keeps the oil and spices away from the meat, so it didn’t really have a ton of flavor to it. The crab was delicious, though, so that makes up for it. Oh, and while we were waiting, the hostess at the seafood restaurant mentioned another reasonably local sunflower field for me to check out!
Finished off the day with birthday brownies. Those have been my partner’s traditional birthday treat instead of cake, and I’ve decided I like the tradition, so I’ve adopted it as well.
Overall, I’d say the day was practically perfect. Here’s to another year of food, adventures, and fun!
Happy late birthday 🌻 I love you. So glad you got to the sunflower fields 💕
Happies of Birthdays to you! Thanks for joining the Pokemon Unite squad!