Maize Maze Mayhem II: 2003

Saturday, October 11, 2003: It's Maize Maze Mayhem II! To commemorate the second annual outing, Audrey made MMM II tattoos for all of us. Before starting our mazing at Beasley's Orchard in Danville, we posed with our newly applied ink. Back row (l-r): Jeff, Debbie, Michael, Gina, and Brent. Front row: Tom, Audrey, and Heather.

We raced through both mazes, which featured sports or history questions to help you through the maze. We didn't find them very helpful, but we did make it through the mazes in record time. We did find time to stop and observe the local wildlife, including this little caterpiller, spotted by Michael. When we were done, we did some shopping at the crafts booths and country store, viewed some farm animals (including some adorable puppies that we foolishly did not photograph), then fortified ourselves with fresh kettle corn.

Next, we jumped in the cars and played games over the walkie-talkies while en route to lunch at Applebee's, which is quickly becoming our favorite place to change clothes between mazes. After lunch, we headed to Mullin Farm in Brownsburg, Indiana, for the second year in a row. We had to stop at the petting zoo, of course, and got a nice close look at this tiny horse. He would not fit in my backpack, so we had to leave him there.

We decide to tackle the two hardest of the three mazes. The men would be one team and would start in the third maze.

The women (minus Heather, who had to head home) formed the other team and happily set off for the second maze.

The Man Team featured Tom in charge of Navigation...

... Jeff in charge of Card Punching ...

... and Michael in charge of Trash Talking. Brent, obviously, was in charge of Photography.

Despite Michael's excellent trash talk, the women finished their maze several minutes before the men finished theirs. The men took it well, but vowed to be triumphant as the teams switched mazes and continued racing.

This time, the Woman Team had the camera. Gina and Audrey look cool and confident as they decide where to head next.

Never ones to overlook beauty where it is least expected, we stopped to admire the falling stars caused by the star-shaped card punch at one of the checkpoints.

The second race ended in a flat-out run to the finish by both teams, ending in a tie. Friends once again, we pose for a final shot before heading to Stony's Steakhouse for dinner and the end of another great day of Maize Maze Mayhem.