Corn maze

This year, for the first time in my life, I was to attempt a corn maze. 

 

Yes, that statement was meant to sound dramatic.   I mean really, the thought of taking four little boys --who can without a moments notice need to poop, nap or eat, into a situation where you are expected to become disoriented, lost and confused is a scary scary thing. 

 

That's why I didn't do it alone.  I called my friend, Becky, and said, "When you come up here in October, I want to go to a corn maze."  "Sounds good" was her response.  She's always up for anything.

 

We planned it for Friday.  Early nap for the little ones then we packed up snacks, water, first aid gear and some extra diapers then ran up to school to grab the big boys an hour before school let out.  Listen, going to a corn maze may not seem, to you, like a good excuse to miss school but if that meant we had an extra hour before nightfall to find our way out of the corn purgatory, then it was worth the hour not devoted to education.  I wasn't going to risk it. 

 

It's a good thing we got an early start, because we were lost before we ever arrived at the farm.  My phone told me "we had arrived" but my eyes told me we were in the middle of nowhere next to fields of dirt and some sort of quarry.  Becky called the farm.  The lady who answered had a thick accent and asked: "Did you use some sorta GPS thingy?"  "Yes."  "Girl don't do that, it'll get ya lost."

 

Thank you.  Thank you for noting that on your website.

 

She proceeded to give us directions like something you would read in a Berenstain bear book:  "Just keep going.  You'll come to a bridge, go over it.  Then you'll see a pumpkin patch.  We're right after that."

 

I was expecting to take a right at an oak tree or a left just past the holler log.

 

We continued.  Eventually we came to the bridge (and yes, we went over it).  As soon as we did, we look over to see a field with a barn, playground equipment, tractors, car lot flags and tons of minivans parked in rows. 

 

"Ahh!  We made it!"

 

I park, pack up the backpack, lock the car and take a deep breath. 

 

"Hope we don't need a tent and a lantern" I think.

 

The kids happily scatter all over the playground equipment.  Becky hangs on to Brady and I go to buy the tickets.

 

I walk up to a lady who looks like she works there and announce:  "We'd like to do the corn maze."  She laughs and says, "Well, you'll need to go over there"  Then she points to a "yonder" field of corn.  "Just git back on the road and drive around the corner." 

 

"Ok.  Thanks."

 

We'd just let the kids out after an hour in the car.  We let them play for a bit. 

 

And play they did:

 

 

 

And fight over fresh squeezed lemonade. 

 

We got back in the car after a good 45 minutes of play and a concession stand dinner.  I highly recommend the corn dog.  I'm serious.  Jack ordered it and it was the best corn dog I have ever tasted in my whole life.  I might just drive back out there this fall solely to get anther taste of carny heaven.

 

Back to the car and around to the corn maze.  I vigilantly kept up with the map.  Turned out the maze wasn't that scary and there wasn't just one way that would lead you to the end.  In fact, we took a calculated wrong turn in order to reach the cool bridge.



 

Brady was allowed out near the end.  I think he enjoyed it, but was still a little mad about having to ride in the wagon. 

If you pay for the "Corn maze and hayride"  be aware that this is not it.  This is the train and it is very, VERY bumpy.  And be careful who you sit in front of, you never know who might think it's hilarious to throw corn at the back of your head.

 

 

This is the hayride:

 

And it was A-MAZE-ING.  My favorite part, without question.  Scratch that.  The corn dog might have been my favorite part.... I'm going to put food and entertainment in separate categories.  BOTH were my favorite.

 

 

We stayed over an hour longer than we had planned and enjoyed every minute.  Although I have nothing from which to compare, I highly recommend Schaefer's Corn Maze.  Texas people who are considering a trip up here: come in October next year and I'll bring you here.