Paula and June's Most Excellent Adventure

Warning: Graphic intensive

Yesterday my friend Paula, her husband Sam, and I embarked on a Halloween adventure to Apple Annie's in Willcox, AZ. Our mission: seek the Great Pumpkin, wander through the corn maze, and gather a bounty of vegetables in the fields.

© Sam Flores, All Rights Reserved

The first thing to do when embarking on an outing to Apple Annie’s is to stop by Stout’s Cider Mill at Exit 340 on I-10 for a taste of their cider and place your order for one of their humongous homemade apple pies for pickup after the Apple Annie’s excursion.

© Sam Flores, All Rights Reserved

Then we were off to Apple Annie’s Orchard where we found apples and pumpkins, purchased apple cakes in the bakery, bought boxes of homemade fudge and cute pumpkin hats—don’t we look adorable? Yes, of course we do.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

We bought Bolga Baskets made from elephant grass by farm families in Bolgatanga, Ghana, West Africa. Proceeds go back to the makers to supplement their unpredictable crop income.

© Sam Flores, All Rights Reserved

The sunflowers are past their prime, but we did find a few still blooming.

Next was a short drive to Apple Annie's Produce & Pumpkin Farm. More pumpkins ensued, of course, but our prime purpose was to walk the Corn Maze and pick veggies in the fields. This is my first ever trip to a maze.

© Sam Flores, All Rights Reserved

The maze is cut into 18 acres of corn and has over 6 miles of pathways, but clues lead you through. Paula and I were the only people in the maze, Sam stayed at the beginning in case we got lost and needed a search party. Here we’re giggling because they’re letting two directionally-challenged crazy women venture into the maze unsupervised.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Hey, guess what, Paula? There’s actually corn in this maze.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Do you think we need to carry some kernels to mark our way?

© Paula Flores, All Rights Reserved

Which way do we go?

© Sam Flores, All Rights Reserved

Sam was waiting at the exit to capture our exultant emergence as we skipped happily, thoroughly “amazed” not to be permanently lost.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Conquering the maze earned us a patch.

© Sam Flores, All Rights Reserved

Next was a bit of picking in the fields, this is in the black-eye pea section. We came home with green beans as well as green tomatoes which I’m going to fry.

© Sam Flores, All Rights Reserved

Did you know black-eye peas look like this, Paula? I’ve only ever seen them in a can.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

We made a quick stop back at the wonderful Stout’s General Store to pick up our monster apple pies and our most excellent adventure was done. Thank you, Sam, for being our chauffer, photographer, and all-around good guy in putting up with us.