A Confounding Corn Maze

I saw a story on the news today about a family that had to call 911 after getting lost in a corn maze. It was dark, they had a 3-week-old baby with them, and the woman sounded pretty terrified. After police and corn maze employees arrived, it apparently took about a minute for them to be found. But I can empathize.

Every year, our hooligans anticipate the local corn maze visit. In Washington, the maze was conveniently located just down the road from the local cider mill, so we could get hot apple fritters and icy cold apple cider slushes to fortify ourselves before the maze. Ah, good times. We ventured out to the nearest maze here in Wisconsin last Sunday. We even went to Mass on Saturday evening so we could get an early start on Sunday. I know, nothing like worshipping when it’s convenient for you!

The parking lot was already packed when we arrived, but we were able to get some good photos with the huge pumpkins without any other people in the background. Then we headed over to the maze. The only sustenance to be had that early was popcorn, so my husband grabbed that, bought tickets, and off we went. The pattern was the Cat in the Hat and it was spread over 8 acres. That’s a pretty big maze, when the corn is like nine feet tall. When we asked if there was a map, the teen taking tickets just laughed and handed us a quiz sheet. He told us that if we answered the questions correctly, the answers would guide us. Hmmm.

Fifteen stops, with 3 hidden hole punches somewhere in there. The clues were multiple choice questions about all things Dr. Seuss. We did okay for about 3 checkpoints, then wandered around until we found an overlook and discovered #8. Everyone else was just as confused, and we all just kind of helped each other out. We managed to find all 3 hidden points and punch our contest entry before making for the exit. My husband rationed the popcorn throughout the hour it took, just in case we needed emergency provisions. That, and he didn’t bring any water, and the popcorn was quite salty.

We all felt quite the sense of accomplishment upon escaping. When I handed in my contest form, I asked what the prize was. The same teenage boy informed me “they” hadn’t decided yet. Really? So we may have risked our very lives for a chance to win….what? An apple? A trip to Hawaii? I think the answer lies somewhere in between.

After all that trauma, we fled to the local burger and custard stand to recover. It took me a few days but I decided the memories had become warm and fuzzy enough by today to scrapbook the trip. Here’s the result. I bet you’ll be a-MAZE-d. Ha. Oh, and I forgot to mention that my name was drawn from the hat to chaperone the kindergarten field trip to the same maze/pumpkin patch tomorrow. I think I’ll pack my GPS and some flares. Just in case.

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