HALF MOON BAY, when fall finally arrives, can seem so thick with pumpkin promise that a potential visitor might wonder if a pathway lined with pumpkins will lead them directly into town. That isn't a thing, but finding oodles of pumpkin-based bites and drinks and specials and events around the pretty Pacific-snug burg is very much a possibility. After all, Half Moon Bay is the World Pumpkin Capital and the home to both The Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off and the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival. Those two events are set to happen in October — Oct. 9 and Oct. 14 & 15, respectively — but a pumpkin-obsessed person can find fun happenings and edibles related to their favorite fruit before those dates. The Half Moon Bay Brewing Company is launching a pumpkin menu on Oct. 1, while The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay has a few treats in store. There's the...
ULTIMATE PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE, from the Santa Cruz Coffee Company, to try. It will be available at the resort on the first day of autumn, and it will include Verve coffee as well as "sweet pumpkin flavors from farm-fresh Half Moon Bay pumpkins" as well as milk and spices. A good-to-know asterisk? You don't need to be a guest of the resort to stop by and purchase this pumpkin-licious libation. But the pumpkin-based good times keep rollin' at The Ritz-Carlton via its Pumpkin Experience Package. An overnight stay, a Pumpkin Facial, and a pumpkin pastry when you arrive are all woven through this fall-fun getaway. Well, make that a pre-fall getaway; it's available as of Tuesday, Sept. 5. And the final day of the package? It's quite pumpkin-famous: Halloween. So book soon, gourd-lovin' travelers, before the Half Moon Bay pumpkins turn into jack o'lanterns.
