Gary's Berries

Elijah's Account:
Gary's Berries is one of the few forms of entertainment in Topeka, KS (rural nowhere). A quick overview: Gary's Berries is a giant corn maize. So, when it opens for a short period in the fall, hundreds flock for their chance to get lost, for money (including me). Not a concept I understand (I can get lost for free), however, it is quite fun. So, recently Jeff, Steph, Will, Drew, Jordan, and I went. William documented the event with the video: Official Orange: Gary's Berries, but there's more to it than that. As you may know, chronologically, this blog takes place right after the ADT signs blog. We went through the corn maize first. While inside, we met up with Hannah. At the halfway point, we took a break and headed to the tepee they have outside the maize, called the "Korn Pit." Upon entrance, I expected to hear terrible metal blaring over loud speakers, but as it turns out, that wasn't the type of Korn they meant. Had it been, my stay would have been short. But instead, I buried myself in corn. I also tried a new kind of drink, called Sunkist: Cherry Limeade. That wasn't bad, but it certainly can't compete with the greatness that is "Sunkist." I mean the normal orange soda stuff. We went down some giant slides, and then finished the maize. Then, I played some Pumpkin-ball (basketball to you Americans...) All in all, I'd say it was a pretty great day!

Jeff's Account:
Gary's Berries... what a wonderful place! This was my very first time going to Gary's Berries, and I had a blast! Now, I've been to a corn maze before, but this one was really fun! As we started our wonderful adventure through the maze, I started leading our party of six. Well, great leader I am, because after a few minutes of leading the group, I led us right back to the beginning. That was embarassing. But I didn't let my spirit fall. I was determined to get through this maze! So, I led our group on! Will started taking video at this piont, and it deemed to be quite entertaining. Eventually, we put a story behind our adventure through this maze. Apparantly, we were a tribe going through this maze that was home of the corn people. On the way, we found a fellow corn person. Well, in reality, it was Drew who had run ahead and ambushed us. Fortunately, I had crafted myself a spear from the very corn we were venturing through. The corn person and our tribe decided to work together to find our way through. It took us a very, very long time to find our way through the first half of the maze! Even with the corn person who apparantly didn't know his own land very well. What an idiot. Along the way, we ran into some friends. Actually, we didn't realize who they were at first. We just started playing marco polo, then suddenly we thought we recognized their voice. "Hannah?!" It was Hannah! So we eventually joined forces with Hannah's group. Anyway, we eventually found our way through the first half of the maze! It only took us a couple hours! After this, we decided to take a break before tackling the second half! Hannah's group believed in no such behavior, and continued through the maze.

After our group, the Good People we called ourselves, were refreshed and ready, we took on the second half. As we ventured through this part, we ran into many things, like official corn people meeting grounds, graveyards of the corn people, the sacred holy grounds of the corn people, and Hannah's group. Yeah, apparently they weren't doing so well and needed our help. Well, I decided to turn it over to Drew to lead us since I was not figuring this out and Drew after all was a corn person. Turns out he had no idea where he was going either. So, desperate to get out, I ran... and it just so happens that I took all the right turns somehow. Imagine that! So, Drew and I successfully conquered the maze! As for everyone else, they failed to keep up with my running and emerged a little later. Soon, everyone was out... except for Elijah. Where was Elijah?! We did our official call: Whoooop! Whoooop! -- No response. Oh no! Maybe the corn people had taken him hostage! What shall we ever do?! And then he emerged and we were all happy again.

We had conquered the maze! The Good People were very happy! So, we decided to slide down some awesome slides, take an awesome tour of the corn people's history, shoot some hoops, and hang out with Corn Dog. Corn Dog is the awesome dog of the corn people. He was one awesome dog! Oh, and here's something interesting. We were playing some pumpkin ball, when suddenly we found something very strange. It was one of those little dogs that were stuffed with beans. Beanie Babies if you will. It was just lying on the ground. It was very odd and suspicious, but I took the dog as my own, and now he sits on my shelf. And that my friends is the story of Gary's Berries.