Saturday, October 30, 2010

Willamette Valley Corn Maze worth every penny.

We spent hours walking the muddy paths between towering stalks of corn in the 13 acre corn maze at Willamette Valley Fruit Company. While the cost was $8 (it was $7 during the week, jumped on the weekend), we had enough fun to make it worth every penny.

The endeavor is an interesting one. Asking the gentleman taking the monies how on earth it was done, he explained that a company took their logo, designed the image to fit their field size of 13 acres, and created large section maps which guides their cutting of what they don't want when the corn is about a foot tall.

The results were fantastic. The aerial photos almost look fake, but they are true! There were plenty of little activities for the kids (um... yeah... kids). The pump driven rubber duckie race and the corn cannon were our favorites.

We entered the maze during daylight, did tracks 3 and 2, and came out well after dark. I recommend a nighttime visit, but bring your flashlight and your muck boots because it's muddy. That was part of the fun, though, learning to ride the slide as you went along. All bets were on me to fall and land in the muck, which thankfully did NOT happen, although the ground almost sucked the shoe right off my foot more than once. As usual I lagged behind most of the night; whene

Their farm store, where we go about once a month to have our pick of their fantastic pies, was filled to the brim with yummy gourmet foods (their own jams, various types of seasonings, sauces, and such), the workers were doing a night shift of pie making to show everyone how it's done. Really, it just looks like making pies at home in the kitchen, just with more people.

We had made poor choices in footwear. Before heading to Venti's for a drink and dinner, we stopped off at home to change shoes. Off to one of my Salem favorites! We shared sweet potato fries, falafel plate and chicken yakisoba while we enjoyed the ambiance. That's one of the places in Salem that makes me feel I'm "home," thanks to the variety of people that come through. There's a diversity there (of age, style, ethnicity)... I wish that were a more accurate representation of Salem as a whole.

No comments:

Post a Comment