What Goes Up, Must Come Down.

It was THAT time of year again! PUNKIN CHUNKIN! The first weekend in November, Court and I headed over to Delaware for our 4th year in a row at this famed event. It was a big year for us because we were bringing newbies this time. Court brought her husband, Scott "The Asian". (I pointed out several times that last year at Punkin Chunkin, she didn't even know her hubby. And they've already been married 8 months. Yeah, do the math.) Also, Scott "The Hottie" came up with one of my housemates, Jenny.

Of course, Court and I have been talking this thing up for years. The Punkins! The funnel cake! The people watching! The Chunkin! The funnel cake! So the expectations were pretty high with no fear of disappointment. MAN, were we WRONG. Punkin Chunkin was terrible! I'm not even being funny/sarcastic.

When we first started going to PC, it was such a fun, family-appropriate day of all-around goodness. We have had a blast for years. But this year, something was so off and it was not a good time for two reasons.

First, there has always been a tailgating, drunk at 10am element going on, but it had always been Over There. Not over by the Chunkin. However, they moved it all around this year and the tailgating was right up against the chunkin lines and it was insane. There were thousands and thousands of drunk people who didn't even care about what was going on over the safety fence. Of course, there was no one there to regulate underage drinking, either. There was one VERY LARGE group of kids near us that would not stop blowing whistles and falling all over themselves. I was embarrased for them until one of them started driving a motorcycle through the crowd. Then I was just angry. Their motto seemed to be, as one drunk and disorderly woman slurred to her child about Noon: "It's not about the Chunkin! It's about the Drinkin!"

Second, there was something going on with the Chunkers or the people operating them or SOMETHING, but the competition was SOOOO slow this year. It was progessing down the lines at such a slow pace that it quickly became boring. Which, I am sure, increased the speed with which people were drinking. It was a vicious cycle. Years past, when we would leave, they would be mostly done. But this year, we were already walking to the car just before they shot Yankee Siege. I am glad that we did see it launch though, because they reached their long-sought-after goal of 2,000 feet. Which means the owners will no longer be bringing Yankee Seige to the Chunk. One last one for the road.

On our way out, we saw ALL sorts of inappropriateness that I won't even mention here. Once on the road, there was a dead stopped line of cars about 3 miles long full of teenagers trying to get in to drink themselves silly. Not the best year to bring newbies. Sadly, I don't think that we'll be going back. Court and Scott the Asian (who was NOT happy being in the cold - see photo) will be moving sometime next year (don't even start me on that.) And it's not worth going back to the Chunk, when they've lost sight of all that was great about it. SAD. :(

But having said all that, I will say that I do have three years of GREAT memories. We had some really great times and I am going to try really hard to use those happy thoughts to block out this last one.