Halloween

I've had quite a few memorable Halloweens in my life. From the Blizzard of '91 when we had to wear snow pants under our costumes to go trick-or-treating, to the crazy three level party that we threw last year with my neighbors in Minneapolis. Four Halloweens in Madison have left these indelible marks on my memory: three dudes running down State Street wearing leopard print thongs and fur coats, my friend Kate and I riding in a shopping cart dressed as Barbie and Skipper, watching from our fire escape as a group of people demolished the store windows below us at 4am, almost getting tear gassed in a crowd, seeing a dude dressed as Goldmember (from Austin Powers, remember?) roller skate around State Street, and of course, every year there were the Oompa-Loompas doing flips and running around making people feel uncomfortable.

This year, I wasn't even planning on dressing up. There were so many ridiculous Halloween parties going on this weekend, that my friends and I decided to boycott a night of mayhem in favor of good, old-fashioned fun. A Haunted Corn Maze. Being from the Midwest, I felt like I should have been to one of these before, but I can honestly say that I haven't. Haunted hayrides, yes. Even Haunted caves, but never a corn maze. So we all piled in Emily's Pathfinder and tried to navigate our way through the awful traffic to Fremont for this alleged maze.

The line of cars had to be 50 deep when we arrived at 8pm. We saw a Ford truck jump the curb and try to sneak in, but a cop car rolled up looking like it was going to bust him. Only instead of busting the Ford, the cops started talking to the employees. The maze was shut down by the 5-0 for having too many people on the property! In the moments of confusion, I asked a young stoner guy working the line what was going on, and he said that if we parked across the street, we could still walk in. We were all bound and determined to see this thing, so we pulled in the parking lot and trekked across the field in the dark.

Once we got to the massive line of people, our hope was crushed yet again. They were out of tickets. Cursing the corn maze, Emily threatened to hop the wire fence and make a run for it. Carrie wanted to steal a pumpkin for our troubles. But in the end, we all settled on the fact that we needed dinner. Burritos and Margaritas was the group consensus.

On our way out, I asked the same stoner guy where we could find a good Mexican restaurant. He recommended La Cabana, and after about five minutes of stoner-speak and some long pauses, he ended up figuring out how we could get there. It was just down the road, behind a 7 Eleven. We were not exactly confident in these directions, especially after driving for what felt like way too long. But then we saw the 7 Eleven, and behind it was La Cabana, right next to the Adult Bookstore. Classy.

Stoner dude did not disappoint. The food was not only delicious, but also incredibly (almost alarmingly) cheap. $3.50 for a Chicken Quesadilla with guac. $5 for Super Nachos. And all the free chips and fresh salsa we could handle. We selected a few Selena numbers from the juke box and toasted to the corn maze that had let us down. The Good Son was playing on two TVs, dubbed in Spanish, with old men speaking instead of the prepubescent voices of young Elijah Wood and Macauley Culkin.

It was about 10pm, and we were not ready to call it a night. There was a costume party in Oakland that Carrie really wanted to go to, but June and Meagen wanted to hit up bars in The Mission. Emily just wanted to go to bed. Most of us rarely leave the city, so we decided that Oakland would be an adventure...

Three hours, four last minute costumes, and $8 in tolls later, we arrived at the secluded house party up in the hills of Oakland. The guy that Carrie knew was dressed as a skeleton in a skintight black bodysuit, and I don't think I understood a word he said all evening. He was practically speaking gibberish. Although, he was able to balance a beer bottle on his head for over 20 seconds, which I found quite impressive.

Overall, it was quite a night. We traveled all over the bay area, and probably spent more in gas money and tolls than we did on dinner. Definitely a Halloween to remember.