Monday, October 20, 2014

The Pumpkin Patch and Keeping Portland Lost Corn MAiZE in Sauvie Island Oregon

We received free media passes from US Family Guide to facilitate this review and post.

We sure had a lot of fun last year at The Pumpkin Patch and The Corn Maize on Sauvie Island Oregon. My whole family was excited to go again. We had planned to go on the 11th of October, but bad weather and a family mishap pushed it to the 18th. The staff at The Pumpkin Patch was wonderful in working with us to reschedule a better time and day.

I wanted to make sure that we didn't miss the Corn MAiZE and also see some things we hadn't seen in years past. The market was definitely on our radar so that we could partake of some of the awesome bounty that Sauvie Island had to offer. I was also hoping to go through the Corn MAiZE completely with the girls as we didn't get to last year.

Sauvie Island
Sauvie Island Oregon is a large island bound by the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. It comprises of approximately 30,000 acres of land and lakes. The scenic drives wind around through farm and dairy lands. The gorgeous Sauvie Island Bridge crosses the Multnomah Channel of the Willamette River near Portland, Oregon, United States. This 1,198' (365 m) truss bridge was built from July 2004 - June 23, 2008. I got to see it in construction.

Corn MAiZE entrance.
The entrance to the Corn MAiZE is a covered area with picnic benches and places to take photos. There are also interesting things to read about the maze. There is a whole board filled with past MAiZEs, a large corn cutout, carved pumpkins, a sunflower cutout to poke your head in, a rule board, a large ruler cutout to measure how much you've grown since the last time you were there, and other things as well to keep you occupied while waiting for others to finish the maze.

Corn MAiZE Passports.
Grab a Corn MAiZE passport card before the you start through the maze. They have different categories to choose from, each having their own set of questions to solve. We think they are a lot of fun and very educational. When you get to a checkpoint (numbered sign) along the way, stop and look for the same numbered question on the passport. Answer it and it will tell you which path to take. If you answer correctly you will be on the right path. A wrong answer could get you very lost, so choose wisely.

The girls and I went through the first half of the Corn MAiZE without any trouble!
My daughters, Teela and Zari braved the mud and went through the first half of the maze without any trouble! I remember last year getting very lost and having to turn around and go back the way we came. I am so glad that we made it this year.

Corn MAiZE Fun
While in the corn maze there are 2 points where you go up stairs and over a bridge and then down again into the mud. Yes...I said mud! At first there was a little mud and then there was a lot of mud! I saw people come out of the maze covered in it. I was glad we didn't get too muddy. Next time I think we need to invest in some muck boots for the kids. Also you can see for miles when you are up on the bridges and you can sort of get your bearings. We saw The Pumpkin Patch from one which looked like a dotted orange part of the field from afar.

2nd half of the Corn MAiZE. We made it all the way to the end! Yay!
Feeling rather bold and proud of ourselves for finishing the first half we even decided to go further and try the second, apparently harder path through the maze. We made it all the way to the end and although the whole maze took us a while to go through because I took a bunch of pictures we were so glad we persevered and got to finish!

We love the silly brain teasers called CORNundrums that are throughout the Corn MAiZE.
Along the way through the maze we had fun solving corny brain teasers called CORNundrums. These are silly signs with pictures that represent funny play on words. We laughed so much! It was a great activity and good for the soul.

The Pumpkin Patch Animal Barn
 We love to go in the animal barn at The Pumpkin Patch to see the animals. It is a small barn with a few animals. There are bunnies, chickens, a cow, sheep, goat, llama, etc. There are animal facts posted by some of the animals. I learned that rabbits can purr just like cats do and chickens have more bones in their necks than giraffes. I love the mural on the back wall inside of the barn. It is old and flaking off in spots, but still nice.

Pumpkins from The Pumpkin Patch
This year we didn't visit the pumpkin patch like previous years, mainly because we wanted to go look inside the market. I got some pictures of the kids as we were on our way over to the market. Jaedan wouldn't smile for me in these pictures...oh well.

The Pumpkin Patch Market
We checked out The Pumpkin Patch Market next. There is a fabulous selection of flowers, fruits, vegetables, herbs and other local homegrown or homemade treats. Someday I am going to have to buy a Bolga Basket here because I absolutely love them! Maybe I will buy two or three because my girls also found a cute one in their size. They also had some of the largest sauerkraut cabbages I have seen. I love their wall of locally made honey, dressings, sauces, spreads and syrups. They have a wonderful variety of items made of pumpkin. You can pick out a nice pumpkin here or at The Pumpkin Patch.

Our market finds, Jaedan using a cabbage leaf as a hat, and Delbin's pear.
We bought two regular size cabbages, a large mesh bag of hot peppers we are going to dry into pepper flakes, a Blue Hubbard squash to possibly make into a pie, some pears: including a gigantic one Delbin picked out, and some apples with our WIC farmers market coupons before they expired at the end of this October.

Floral gardens and leaving Sauvie Island with a Pumpkin Truck.
As we left The Pumpkin Patch and Corn MAiZE on Sauvie Island we passed some of their pretty flower gardens. Maybe next year we can explore more things we missed in the past years we have been. We were also following a large semi truck filled to the brim with pumpkins across the Sauvie Island Bridge as we drove back home. We had a very fun day at The Pumpkin Patch and Corn MAiZE on Sauvie Island and we hope to get to go back next year.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received free tickets for my family to go to The MAiZE at The Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island Oregon to facilitate this review. Thanks to USFamilyGuide.com for providing me this promotion information and free tickets. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for posting this promo.

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