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| Ready to start, with my neighbors Joann & Kathy |
Have you ever been through one of those corn mazes that are so popular this time of year? I've never been particularly compelled to experience one - the word "maze" makes me think of confused lab rats and those puzzles you see in the Sunday paper where you keep reaching dead ends that force you to erase your progress and go back to the beginning.
So when my neighbors Joann and Kathy suggested a trip to the Great Vermont Corn Maze (the "Largest Maze in New England!"), I was skeptical. We had the option of signing up for either the 40-minute "Scenic Maze" or the 3 hour "Big Maze". The idea of 3 hours (assuming that we didn't get lost) of trying to find my way out of rows of corn stalks seemed to me like something straight out of one of Dante's circles of hell. Even our parish priest once said that if he died and went to heaven and found himself in a corn maze, he'd know that he was really in hell.
Those thoughts in mind, I reluctantly agreed to sign up for the shorter Scenic Maze, wondering how acres of corn stalks could be "scenic".
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| "Scenic"? |
Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised that it wasn't as bad as I had imagined. Instead of dead-ends and u-turns, there were directions to lead us through the maze in an ordered manner - posted hints such as "When you pass this spot, keep making right turns until you reach the next hint". Interspersed were a few towers that allowed us to take in the scenery above the field of corn. It took us a little over the allotted 40 minutes, but at least we didn't have to spend the night in a field of corn!
Leaf Peepers
It's leaf peeper season in Vermont, the time of year when folks from around the country (and the world, in non-Covid years) converge on the narrow country roads to view our fabulous fall foliage. This coming three-day weekend is generally the busiest weekend of the year in Vermont.
Many of those leaf peepers arrive by way of bus groups - some are blended groups from parts unknown that meet up in Boston before heading north; others are regional groups that endure the bus trip from as far away as the Carolina's or Louisianna or Minnesota. The tours usually last a week or ten days, and cover points of interest from Mystic to Sturbridge to the White Mountains to Portland, and everything in between. Some of them inevitably end up at my (oftentimes mentioned) place of employment Billings Farm and Museum .
I'm sure that all of the stops listed in the tour companies' brochures sound interesting and picturesque - Mt. Washington via the Cog Railway! dinner aboard a scenic train ride along Lake Winnepsaukee! the Von Trapp lodge! Ben & Jerry's! Simon Pearce Glass Blowing! a Cider Mill! Free time for shopping! ---- and in fact, all of these stops ARE interesting.
The problems arise when too many of these interesting stops are packed into too strict a schedule, not taking into consideration the delays that can come when just one passenger lags behind at breakfast, or when those charming country roads are congested with other buses trying to experience the same charming country roads.
While a good leisurely visit to Billings can take two to three hours, most bus tours allow just an hour and a half - part of which gets eaten up simply by the logistics of unloading the bus and providing the visitors with a brief introduction. Throw any unforeseen glitches into the packed schedule and the visits may be shrink down to 30 or 40 minutes --- just enough time for the tourists to use the restroom, buy a postcard or some maple sugar candy, and wait in the lobby until it's time to get back on the bus for the next destination (ask anyone into the third or so day of the tour where they're going next, and the response is usually "I really don't know - wherever the bus takes me!")
Still, I find the bus groups to be a generally amiable and happy bunch, usually of a certain age, happy just to take pictures of the cows, take a wagon ride, sample some cider, or simply stand around and share a story about how they grew up on a farm.
For those of us on the staff, the challenge is to direct the groups through the site smoothly and safely -- a role that's more like that of a traffic cop on days like today was (I'm writing this on Monday 10/4), when we had TEN bus groups. The 9:30 bus arrived a half hour late at 10 AM; the two 10 o'clock buses were more or less on time, the 11 o'clock buses arrived at 10:15, and two previously unannounced and unscheduled tour buses arrived somewhere in that mix (the much used "herding cats" analogy comes to mind - during rush hour at Grand Central Station).
It's remarkable what cider donuts,"free" ice-cream, and a little friendly small talk can do, though. Despite the chaos, there were smiles and thank-you's all around as they ended their short visits an hour or so later. I can only hope that they all found their way back to the correct bus!
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| Three of the ten buses that visited Billings Farm on Monday. The rest of the week calls for "only" about a half dozen buses per day; the traffic will drop way down after next week. In the meantime, we'll enjoy the hustle and bustle while we can. |
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| Wagon rides - a crowd pleaser for bus groups. |
Scenery
With all of those tourists, it's unfortunate that the colors this year seem muted - or maybe just delayed - partially due to a wet July, a hot August, and a late frost. The colors may not be as vibrant as last year, but I couldn't help posting a few pictures anyway.
