A-MAZE-ing I will go ...

How long does it take you to drive across your province or state ?  

Nova Scotia is "wasp waisted" with Halifax and the Atlantic Ocean on one side, and Windsor a short jaunt on Hwy. 101 to the other side on Bay of Fundy.

It's an easy drive on good roads.  As you can see, the colourful time is past as most of the trees were bare.

 On Tuesday I drove just past Windsor to the Farm at Noggin's Corner.  It was just over a one hour drive from Eastern Passage.

I'd heard about the corn maze and wanted to see it for myself.

This year's theme is "Ancient Rome".  Not only do you get to navigate a maze, but you need to find specific activity stations with, rubbings, or riddles, or stamps to show that you been every where you needed to be.

I went on Tuesday and shared the maze with several bus loads of excited school children who were navigating the maze at a dead run, because they only had a limited find everything that needed to be found.  

Throughout the maze there was plastic tape to help keep you on the path.  Where I entered the maze the tape was blue, but later I noticed that it had changed to white.  It was only when I looked at the map (above) again that I realized the tape colour hinted at where I was in the maze.  Wish I'd realized that at the time.

I thought this station was a clever way to keep small children, like me, busy.  There were five different places where I could dip a different finger in a different colour of chalk.

My fingers were, purple, blue, yellow, red, and green.  Next I had to find that exact colour order on the chart.

There it is.  See #12 is purple, blue, yellow, red, and green.  

I then was instructed to look on the other side of the board and find #12 and it said "You have the rare ability to recognize ability in others".     Okaaaay.   If you say so.

There were lots of other things to do.

Like rubbings, 

 

and riddles,

and stamp impressions to be collected.

There were even a couple of elevated stands so you could look out over the maze.

I was having a great time wandering rather aimlessly about.  Initially I tried to relate where I was in the maze to the map, but after a while I sort of lost track.  

I wasn't concerned until I realized a needed to pee.

Hmmmmm.

Heelllllllllllp.

They're paddling WHAT ???

Today I headed to Windsor on a whim to catch an annual event that I'd never seen before. 

A big crowd had already gathered. 

And if you look closely, you'll that that another crowd had assembled at the starting line on the far side of Lake Pisiquid.  Don't ya just love the name of the lake ?

Aaaand ... they're off.

Some of the paddlers seemed to be having trouble keeping their vessels moving straight and true, which really should not be a surprise when you consider what they were paddling ...

What?   Are you leaning closer to the screen to see what they're paddling ?

Do those vessels look round ? 

There were 13 entrants in this race, but not all of them made it to the finish line.  Don't worry. Everyone is safe.

It's just that pumpkins can be a bit tippy.

Especially if two of you are squeezed into the same pumpkin and leaning in different directions.

This young fella fought valliantly to make his vessel go in the direction HE wanted.

I am happy to report he made it to the finish line... eventually.

It was only after the pumpkins were parked moored, that we were able to appreciate how tricky they must be to keep afloat,

and we were able to admire their paint jobs.

Can you imagine paddling one of these across a lake ?  

Ummmm ...

Do you know why this unique race is held here ?   Well you can thank Howard Dill for starting it all off.  Though Mr. Dill died a few years back, his legacy lives on.  Mr. Dill single-handedly put  Windsor on the map, by growing the world's largest pumpkin, and developing his own variety called "Dill's Atlantic Giant"  BTW, two seeds from a 1,000 pound pumpkin cost $12.  That's quite the legacy !  His farm is now a tourist attraction.

Next year I want to go visit the farm prior to the race, and see the boats before they get carved.

BTW the winning pumpkin this year, weighed in at just over 1,800 pounds !