Fall Fun at Anderson Farms

It's finally Fall!

Well, it has been for a few weeks now, but it's finally starting to feel like Fall. The leaves are changing color, the nights are getting cooler, and there are pumpkins and Halloween decorations everywhere. 

To celebrate the coming of my favorite Season we headed to Anderson Farms in nearby Erie for a Fall Festival with Kim's work recently. It was such a fun event and a super fun place to celebrate the season.

Visiting a pumpkin patch is always one of my favorite Fall activities and just like everything with our move, a new pumpkin patch was on my "must find" list! Anderson Farms perfectly fit the bill checking off all my pumpkin patch favorites, plus more! Tractor rides, pumpkin picking, a corn maze, cheesy photo opportunities, a petting zoo, fun rides and amusements... it's all there.

We started our visit with a bite to eat and checking out the pumpkin displays before heading off to explore the corn maze. Of course, I made the kids pose with all those pumpkins. How could I resist these perfect photo opportunities? The kids, of course, couldn't resist pulling silly faces!

The corn maze is pretty large and features two sections. The lower section, when viewed from above is shaped like a tractor and pumpkins, while the upper section is shaped like the farm's barn and pumpkin topped silo. We stuck to the lower section as we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to explore everything. Ava came up with the plan to always take the first right turn, so that if we found ourselves lost (or decided to give up!) we could simply turn around and take the first left the whole way back. It turned out to be a genius plan and worked a treat. No getting lost for us!

After our adventure in the corn, we hopped aboard a tractor trailer and made our way out to the pumpkin patch to select our pumpkins. As usual, the kids were super picky making sure to find THE perfect pumpkin rather than settling for just any old gourd. Ava went with a classic large orange pumpkin, Mathilde found a teeny, tiny white pumpkin that fit perfectly in her pocket, and Lola couldn't make up her mind and chose multiple pumpkins! After settling on a rather squat, dark orange pumpkin, Lola found a white and orange one that looked like it had "veins", so she ended up with two. We grabbed our pumpkins and hopped back on the tractor trailer for the ride back to the store to pay. 

We took our pumpkin haul back to the car, posed for more cheesy photos and grabbed a few bites to eat as the sun started to set.

After the sun went down, the activities took a turn for the scarier. Anderson Farms features a couple of Halloween themed activities in the evenings. The first being a haunted house called Terror in the Corn. Originally Ava and Lola opted to go with this, but as the time drew closer I could tell that Ava wasn't so sure about their decision. Without going into too many details (I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone who attends), Ava was right to go with her gut feeling. It was much gorier and scarier than any other haunted house we'd visited in the past. At the start of Terror in the Corn we hopped aboard a tractor trailer that took us out to a corn field where the sounds of screams, chainsaws (or cows farting as Lola thought they were) and the occasional explosion filled the night. The girls laughed this off, but when it was our turn to enter the haunted house which leads to the corn field, Ava's laughter quickly turned to tears and we had to back out after only entering the second room. If you're visiting with kids, or anyone a little squeamish, you might want to give this a miss.

The night wasn't completely a bust though, as the staff kindly put us on board another tractor trailer bound for the second adventure option; Zombie Paintball Hunt. Now, at first, we had decided not to take part in this activity as I presumed the kids would be shot by paint balls and I know those things leave bruises. It turns out that it was a much more kid friendly activity and I'm kind of bummed that Kim and Mathilde didn't join in too. We rode on the back of a tractor trailer kitted out with paintball guns along one side out into the corn field. After a while, "zombies" appeared along the edges of the road and we got to blast the hell out of them with our paintball guns. I have no idea how many we managed to hit, but it sure was fun. If you're visiting with kids, this is the evening attraction for you!

By the time we finished blasting zombies it was pretty late and time to head home. We stopped by the propane tank pig that we had spotted earlier for a few pics and had a quick bounce on the giant inflatable jump pads. Ava and Lola would've happily stayed longer, but Mathilde was already fast asleep. Plus, it was closing time. Time to go home.

If you're in the Boulder or Denver area, Anderson Farms is a fun place to celebrate the Fall with all the traditional pumpkin patch fun plus a host of other activities.

Anderson Farms is located at 6728 County Road 3 1/4, Erie, Colorado.

You can find more information including hours and prices here: https://andersonfarms.com/