At what age are you too old for a corn maze? I’ve decided that it’s not about age but ability to deal with frustration. A few years ago, I took my family to their first corn maze in Maryland and we got so lost and so frustrated that my husband and son found the corn maze equivalent of an escape hatch and hightailed it out of there. I’m not sure if I should be embarrassed at their inability to find their way out of a corn maze or proud of their resourcefulness in getting us out of there!
I still love to at least attempt a good corn maze but they are not all created equal. We live in a more rural part of Maryland so this time of year it’s not too difficult to find a farm trying to make the most out of their feed corn field. This year, we decided to venture a little further into Pennsylvania since we were up near Gettysburg for the National Apple Harvest Festival. We were invited to check out Fields of Adventure, also in Adams County, and just a short drive from Gettysburg.
You won’t believe what happened next.
I was hoping that headline would get you to keep reading. Let me explain that my family is not usually adventurous. And by “not usually adventurous,” I mean that they’d prefer to sit home on a chilly fall day. And after a day of eating festival food, they’re even more likely to want to go home. But I dragged them to Fields of Adventure and we not only showed that corn maze who was boss but we had more laughs together than we’ve had in a long time.
The Corn Maze at Fields of Adventure
We headed right to the corn maze and although everyone else thought they were too cool for the activity sheet, I grabbed one. The goal is to visit multiple stations throughout the maze, find answer to theme-related questions, and do some crayon rubbings. Truth be told, we missed about half of the stations because we were just too darn efficient at this maze.
I’m going to be honest. I did take a photo of the map with my phone just in case. I had to tell my husband multiple times that it was only in case of emergency. But I did study the map before we went in and found that if we only made right turns, we should make it out of the maze without much issue. I also took note of the position of the sun. I wish I could tell you I was kidding about that but I did NOT want to spend hours in here and I did want to make it to the end.
Twenty minutes later, we emerged with these two practically dancing their way out. But that wasn’t the end of our fun. We were there to do it all.
Exploring the Rest of the Farm
There’s a playground, for lack of a better term, that’s great for young children. There’s a bouncy slide and a corn pit (is that what you call it?) and some swings. We attempted the swings and, well, that didn’t go well. I sure enjoyed watching him try!
There’s pumpkin bowling! Set up the pins, roll a pumpkin, knock them all down.
And new this year is Human Foosball! Since we’re a family of three, we didn’t make a very good team. It’s probably for the best because when a group started playing, they accidentally kicked the ball out of the arena. My son attempted to kick it back and failed. Then my husband stepped up to show him how it’s done and failed not just once or twice but THREE TIMES! (If you’re reading this, honey, sorry! It was too funny not to mention!).
We even had an audience for our athletic failures! We were actually over by the small petting area trying to make friends with a few cows, goats, chickens, and this adorable Shetland pony named Shadow. I think he liked me.
After our fun in the field, we ventured over the to hill for more games and laughs. There is a zipline available for a small charge. It’s the only time I’ve ever actually considered doing one because I could easily survive a fall from that height (yes, I’m a worse-case-scenario kind of gal). But instead, we bought a bucket of apples and headed for the slingshot.
The targets on the hill were plentiful but only my husband managed to hit anything – the back of a rather large truck. It takes a lot of force to get those apples flying!
Our last stop was to the slide on the hill. Basically, you take a smooth piece of fiberglass, wax it up, and let people fly! I daringly went first, laughing the whole way down, even as I slide off the side and muddied up my jeans. And then I did again.
As the sun was setting and temperature was dropping, my family’s thirst for adventure was rapidly waning. We skipped the tractor ride and didn’t get to pick out our own pumpkins but I spent a few extra minutes just soaking up the wonderful fall atmosphere of this gem of a corn maze.
