I made a late drive tonight with my youngest daughter to the Night Corn Maze LSU AgCenter's Burden Center. It ran from 4 to 9 pm, and I didn't know if it would be worth it to get out there at 8 PM. She really wanted to go for it, so I followed her lead. As we drove down the road and neared the corn fields, I saw a bright light illuminating the area and heard children's voices coming from within. I had to stop the car when I saw silhouetted figures standing on top of hay piles with corn stalks rows in the foreground. I grabbed my camera and scooted my vehicle into a good position to grab some shots. The bodies climbed, tumbled and triumphed over and over again as I looked through my viewfinder more than psyched to be witnessing this scene. I took only a handful plus, and had to keep moving on because my daughter wanted to get in there herself. We found our way to parking beyond the fields, then walked across an area where a bonfire and small stage had been set up. There were some food and drink tents, too, where it looked like folks could grab some marshmallows and sticks. Our feet kept us moving right through to the entrance of the Corn Maze where my daughter stopped and hesitated. After a thought or so, we entered and navigated together trying to find our way to the mountain of hay.
Routing our way past a few scarecrows, other adventurers, and some dead-ends and wrong turns, we finally made it to the mountain. I thought it was an impressive structure with a height of at least 8 feet high and width of five or six hay stacks. With a rope on hand to give you support as you aimed for the top, and an 'LSU AgCenter' flag flying as a beacon, it was lots of fun to make the little climb. My daughter did it on her own first and triumphed with her hands up in the air. I gave it a try, too, and it was very cool to take a 360 view of the corn fields from the higher perspective. Sliding down the hay bales to start all over again was lots of fun!
Once we hit the ground, we head right for a destination spotted from up high. Sponge Bob!! A big stand up figure was on the outer edge of the corn fields with others acting as targets of a sling shot activity. My daughter did surprising well with set up and execution, and hit a target or two on a few of her turns. Another woman, there with her young son, was kind enough to insist he takes turns with us. We really appreciated getting to go more often. As it ends up she is a preschool teacher and works across the hall from a neighbor friend of ours, so it'll be nice to have the opportunity to connect again.
