It’s not Halloween without a visit to the Webb Ranch Pumpkin Patch
The Webb Ranch Pumpkin Patch is open and as popular as ever with some new activities this year. We let our seven- and ten-year-old guides, who’ve been attending since they were toddlers, lead us on “what’s cool” for grade school age kids.
New last year — and the first thing they wanted to do this year — was visiting the Reptile House where you can not only see a wide variety of reptiles and amphibians but hold them under the watchful eye of staff. The snakes are used to human handling, but are also given breaks so as to not fatigue them.
Across from the snakes, is a “how tall are you this year” height chart, which we thought would be spurned as “for little kids,” but they took turns seeing how tall they could stretch themselves (while “granddad” checked on how much he’d shrunk)!
Lines were longish for the petting zoo — a great assortment of animals with more variety than at most zoos of this type, including an alpaca (we think) — as well as the train and hayride, so they got bypassed. Luckily InMenlo contributing photographer Robb Most stopped by on Saturday and captured some of that action, along with the winning shot of youngster Jade surrounded by pumpkins that tops this post.
While the grade schoolers were initially lukewarm about the bounce houses that this year numbered five, set apart in a Bounce Town, they embraced their inner child and had a great time for almost an hour. Note to parents of small children: Two of the houses are reserved exclusively for kids three and under.
The big disappointment of the morning was the absence of the haunted house. This had been a rite of passage, “getting brave enough” to enter, and in recent years, they went through a dozen times on each visit.
This was offset by the great new free activity, a corn maze. It was just difficult enough to make you think about where you’d been and where you were going and easy enough for grade schoolers to make their way unaccompanied by an adult. Decorated with some pumpkins, ghosts and goblins, it was a huge hit, navigated a half dozen times without getting old.
The Webb Ranch Pumpkin Patch is open daily from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm through Halloween. The corn maze and bounce houses are always open; pony, train and hay rides, along with the petting and reptile zoo, are open on weekends only. In addition to a wide variety of locally grown pumpkins for sale, the adjacent produce stand may have seasonal produce for purchase. No dogs allowed.
Top photo and photo of petting zoo by Robb Most; other photos by Linda Hubbard (c) 2018
