Alyice on August 12th, 2009
I ran across an old journal entry that I felt belonged here in the SD Transplant section of my blog. It was written on September 4, 2005 at 5:48 pm. Hope you enjoy it…
After a long week of work and school, the family and I decided we needed to get out in the sun and enjoy our Saturday—together. After much contemplation we decided to visit Heartland Country Corn Maze in Harrisburg, South Dakota. This year, the corn maze was designed to look like a dinosaur, but you can only make out the image by flying over the corn maze.

My Son At The End of The Maze © Alyice Edrich, 2005
When we arrived, the hostess informed us that we could have a free treat if we answered the questions on the cards she gave us, by locating the numbered markers throughout the maze, and if we got our card punched with the unmarked hole punch marker.
Free treat? That’s all my children needed to hear.
“You take the map and find the answers mom,” my fourteen-year-old son exclaimed. “I bet I can find the hole puncher before you do!” And off he went with my ten-year-old daughter in tow.
My husband and I leisurely walked the corn maze, as he tried to find the markers, only to realize that he was lost and the map wasn’t much help. “Hmmm,” I thought to myself, “was the map really no good or was my husband sending me on a wild goose chase?”
After arriving at marker number five, I heard my children’s voices. “Was that excitement or arguing?” I couldn’t tell. I called out to them, but they didn’t answer. As we turned the corner, there was my son, beaming with excitement.
“I told you I’d find the hole punch marker before you did. Hurry up. Come over here. I marked our spot with this broken corn stalk that was on the ground and I want to move it before someone else realizes it’s a marker.”
We smiled, congratulated him, and followed him to the marker. Once we all punched our cards, my son and daughter took turns reading the map—which they had no problem doing by the way. And in a matter of minutes we were back at our hostess’ shack getting our free treats—cool and refreshing popsicles.
After we left the corn maze, we decided it was time to grab a bite to eat, but wait! What was that I just saw? Was it a refurbished car from the fifties? A vintage car?
As I wondered where it came from, I spotted three more old cars.
“Honey,” I said as I tapped my husband on the shoulder. “Can we follow that car? Let’s see where it’s going. I bet there’s a car show somewhere close by.”

A Dream Car For My Daughter© Alyice Edrich, 2005
My husband looked at me as if I were crazy. “They probably just left a car show, but I’ll follow them for a few blocks anyway.”
After five minutes of following them, my husband was ready to give up and turn around to get something to eat. He was hungry, after all.
“Oh wait!” I exclaimed. “They’re turning the corner. Can’t we just follow them around the corner and if there’s nothing there we can leave?”
Though he was reluctant, he was in such a good mood that he humored my woman’s intuition. And to his surprise and my daughter’s joy, there were three entire streets blocked off with nothing but vintage cars—my daughter was in heaven!
We finished our little excursion in a matter of fifteen minutes and none-too-soon according to my son, but my daughter got lots of pictures and had fifteen minutes of pure pleasure.
A simple day, true, but it was one filled with wonder, family, smiles, laughter, and the warmth of the sun beating down on us. What could be better than this?
Until next time…
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Disclosure: I paid for this attraction. This is “my opinion”. I was not paid to give a positive review.
© Alyice Edrich The content and images on this website are all copyright protected. Contact Alyice for reprint permission and fees.
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My congratulations to your son. Pretty fast of him. I am very much sure pretty smart, too!
Posted at 11:30 pm August 20th, 2009
I'm a freelance writer, mixed media artist, SMVA, and the owner of The Dabbling Mum.
