Sleepy Hollow

How's everyone's October going?

Mine's been going along swimmingly! 

from Jack O'Lantern carving (like the one I did above!),
to decorating a new house, to a night of haunted house jumping . . .

This was scary!

. . . It's been quite a SPOOKTACULAR month!

I even went on a little day trip up to Sleepy Hollow, 

New York over the weekend with my boyfriend, Jacob. . .

Jake and I standing on the "Headless Horseman Bridge" ♥

Sleepy Hollow has always been one of the most special places

in my life. I have been going there religiously every October for about seven or

eight years now. I was initially attracted to it because I felt like it had the same

Halloween appeal as the larger-scale Salem, but was much less touristy and had a 

more old fashioned "home town" feel. When I first began coming here, most of their 

Halloween events were geared towards the local crowd; high school haunted hayrides 

that soared through the town, lantern-lit spooky walks through Phillipsburg Manor, 

low-key readings of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" at the Old Dutch Church 

where they'd serve ginger snaps and warm apple cider over the pot belly stove.

It was simply magical, and it kept me coming back year after year...

Of course, things didn't stay the same. 
I noticed the change a couple of years ago when they officially got rid of Legends Evening 
at Phillipsburg Manor and replaced it with "Horseman's Hollow"- a gimmicky, circus-like 
haunted house with "vampire pirates" and a gruesome Ichabod Crane. Then they changed 
the high school hayride around, replacing the unique and detailed scenes we would drive by

with an overabundance of more "vampire pirates," and forgetting all about the Headless

Horseman that would appear at the end of the ride. They got rid of the original reader

of the Legend at the Old Dutch Church, a theatrical and engaging man who kept you at 
the edge of your seat, to a dumb-downed and overly-kid friendly reader whose voice 

was that of a five year old's, and completely obliterated the atmosphere of the tale.
The swarms of tourists continue to congest the streets more and more every year,
adorned in their "Horseman's Hollow" t-shirts and spoiling the peaceful ambiance
that I once so fondly cherished. You'd be lucky if you can find a ticket to anything
on a Friday or Saturday evening... everything is cluttered... everything is sold out.

All of these things broke my heart as the years progressed, but I kept coming back,

and did so again  this year, because despite all the changes, it still remains an enchanting

and extremely beautiful place. And I wanted more than anything to share it with the man

I love, so I did! This past weekend. And guess what?... We had the best time.

Cute store in town. Howdy back!

Lovely view of the Hudson River

Jake and myself again... Isn't he so cute!

The gift shop at Phillipsburg Manor... See anything you like?

Getting ready for our walking tour of the Old Dutch Burying Ground...

The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow!

Say cheese!... Bah! The sun was in our eyes!

Sweet little Jack O'Lantern by the door of the church.

Snapping some photos of the cemetery

Lovely!

Taking a walk to the "Headless Horseman Bridge"

(Sorry, couldn't help myself. Too ca-hute.)

Exploring the brook on the way... See the bridge in the background?

King of the Hollow!

Simply beautiful.

Taking it all in...

Lonely gravestone spotted on our walk back.

Silly faces!

I ♥ Autumn ... don't you?

So, even though Sleepy Hollow isn't exactly the Sleepy Hollow I fell in love

with anymore, the heart and soul of it remains... amidst the colorful leaves that go

shushing in the wind, behind the weathered gravestones, underneath the old wooden

bridge, between every kiss and every laugh I shared with the man who holds my heart.

Yes, I just know it's still there.

♥