I love Fall. Where I grew up we never really had fall. The weather went from uncomfortably hot, to reasonably hot, then somewhere in between that and the onset of a mild winter, all the leaves on the trees died and everything turned a grayish blah. I could never understand the commercial hype for fall because I had never lived it. The excitement of new sweaters or a "fall wardrobe" didn't excite me because we were lucky if it got cool enough to don a sweater before Christmas. So when I moved to the Northeast and finally got a taste of "real fall," I was in love. Apple picking? Pumpkin patches? Hikes in the mountains to view the fiery red and orange foliage? New scarves and snazzy boots? Yes please. Sign me up.
Last year, to celebrate fall, we took E to an apple orchard that doubled as a pumpkin patch/petting zoo/fun zone for kids. Since E was so little he didn't really know what was going on, we vowed to take him again this year. So when S and I were trying to figure out what "non DC" activities to do while a friend was in town this weekend (she's been there, done that), S proposed a trip to the pumpkin patch and my friend was totally on board.
We drove to Montpelier Farms in Upper Marlboro, Maryland where we were greeted with a bevy of activities, including said pumpkin patch. The entry fee was $10 per person. Children under 2 were free, so that was a nice treat. However, the cost of extra tickets for things like "paint-a-pumpkin" and "duck races" ended up costing the price of E's admission anyway, so it's not like we really saved any money.
But we had a blast. E fed some very eager goats and not so eager llamas...
Took a stroll through the hay maze...
And even picked the perfect pumpkin.
The highlight of our farm visit however, was the journey through the corn maze; ten acres of winding, confusing and frustrating awesomeness.
We were given three things from the start: a map, 3-D glasses to read the map, and a flag attached to a long pole to be waved aloft in the event we got so terribly lost we needed to be rescued. The idea of needing to use the flag alone got my heart racing and nearly made me say no way, this is not happening. I saw Children of the Corn way too many times when I was younger, and the fear of that movie started to resurface in that moment. But besides that, who walks through a corn maze with a toddler? A toddler who wanted to sit in the dirt and pick up sticks every five feet and who, about 30 minutes into our excursion, had a massive blowout and required an instant diaper change? We did. And yes, we were forced to change his diaper in the middle of the maze--one of the more unique places we've changed a diaper before, that's for sure. But we did it quickly and moved on. And no, we did NOT leave the diaper out there. But I digress.
The maze was quite fun and more entertaining that I imagined. This is what we saw upon entry...
Pretty daunting, right? We let E hold the pole in an effort to keep his mind on the task at hand and not focused on playing in the dirt beneath his feet. My biggest fear was that he would bust through the corn at the speed of light never to be found again. But I often let my imagination get the best of me (hello irrational Children of the Corn fear), because obviously that did not happen and a good time was had by all.
Especially by these two...
That's S and my friend, J trying to decipher the map with our 3-D glasses. In the end the map was useless. We ended up meandering our way to the finish using instinct and best guesses. Roughly an hour later we saw the exit and breathed a sigh of relief that it didn't take longer. Before we went in a young girl working the refreshment stand told us she got lost in there for 4 hours. Could you imagine? We refused to let that happen to us, and luckily it didn't.
It was a refreshing end to a fabulous day. Ah, the sweet finish...
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