Upcoming: New Hope Valley Railway's Halloween Express

 
I have wanted to do this for so long! There is a train in New Hill that runs a couple times a month on Saturdays and Sundays. I am a Halloween junkie, can't get enough of it, so I found this!

The New Hope Valley Railway has a Halloween Express ride Saturday Oct. 20 and Saturday, Oct. 27 with multiple runs throughout the late afternoon. Each ride is about an hour, and you must purchase tickets in advance. Tickets for all age riders are $10. You must purchase your tickets in advance. Also, this week they have a 10 a.m. run on Friday (Oct. 19) that is not Halloween themed.

Saturday, Oct. 20 trains depart at 4:00 p.m., 5:15 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and 7:45 p.m. The website encouraged young riders to participate in the earlier runs as the 7:45 run will be pretty dark. All the trains running on those days are diesel powered.

5121 Daisey St
New Hill, NC 27562

Green Acres Was the Place to Be! For Pumpkin Patch Activities, that is

Green Acres Farm in Cary was a fantastic fall activity. Admittedly, though, the pumpkins at this "pumpkin patch" were not! Although, I'm pretty sure they don't claim to be a pumpkin patch, for some reason I was under the impression it was. If you're looking for a great deal on pumpkins, this is not the place to go. They didn't look great, nor were they priced very reasonably. But we didn't care; we didn't go to buy pumpkins. We went to have fun, and we did just that!

It was a wonderful time! There were three bounce houses for the kids, a petting area with goats, pony rides (for $5 in addition to the $10 admission fee per person for 4 & older), hayrides, tractors to climb, a sand area for the little ones to dig and play, a corn maze, wagon rides (I believe these were also $5 per person) and so much more. They had food, drinks and picnic areas for birthday parties. I will do this again and again! It was not inexpensive, but it was worth every penny. Our whole family had a great time, as well as my best friend and her family.

Also, on the way there was Phillips Farm (Cary), which has a haunted hayride and corn maze. If only my kids were older I could tell you how that was! I don't think you can miss with all the great pumpkin patches in the area. I also heard about Mrs. Ruth's Pumpkin Patch (in Apex, NC), DJ's Berry Patch (Cary), Green Level Gourd Farm (Apex), Hill Ridge Farm (Youngsville, which is a hike but comes highly recommended by my mommy friends),  The Maze at Hector's Creek (Fuquay-Varina), Ganyard Hill Farms (Durham) and Vollmer Farms (Bunn).

Here is a great link for the area's pumpkin patches, hayrides and corn mazes:

http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/NCppumpkins.php 

1132 Morrisville Carpenter Rd
Cary, NC 27519

HIGHLIGHTS:Too many to name them all - but hayrides, bounce houses, pony rides, horses, goats, petting area, sand pile for little ones, swings, mechanical bull, corn maze and more. 

LOW LIGHTS: My allergies went nuts there, as well as my toddler (ha, ha). There were a lot of people, parking was ridiculous and there was a police car just up the road to help direct traffic, it wasn't cheap and the pony ride was $5 extra.

COST: Children 0-3 free, $10 per person otherwise, $8 for seniors, $5 pony rides, $5 mechanical bull, $4 face painting.