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September 25, 2016 - 2:14 p.m.
"corn maze challenge" or "princeton"

Hey Journal!

Sorry I didn't get to fill you in on yesterday's events sooner but we had a little getaway weekend and I was super-tired when we got to our hotel last night. Anyway, here's the happenings of our Saturday!

This morning I woke up at about 9:00 and had to finish preparing the backyard for the pool to be closed. We had to lower the pool water and also had to fish out one of the filter covers that had fallen into the pool and sank to the bottom. I have no idea how this happened -- it was really weird.

That project took a little longer than expected. The bottom of the pool wasn't visible but I was hoping that as the water level went down, it may come into view. Well, that didn't happen. Instead, I concocted an idea. I took the GoPro, attached it to the bottom of the skimmer pole, and then used it to figure out WHERE the lid was!

It actually worked. After recording the footage from the bottom of the pool, I brought it inside and watched. I moved the pole around a few times and the third time, I spotted it.

That REALLY helped narrow down the search area and once the lid was back on the surface, we were good to go!

So, the original plan was that I was going to accompany Dan on a work trip to Florida and, while he was working, I was going to make my way over to Disney World to enjoy the parks! Sadly, that trip got cancelled and Dan had to go to Chicago, instead. It was a little bit of a bummer, but we were able to make plans to go to Disney in December, instead!

We were supposed to using this weekend to celebrate my upcoming birthday, as well. So, we changed gears and made our annual fall-foliage trip instead.

On the way, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel because we were quite hungry. Although it was not traditionally breakfast hours, I still went for the Momma's Pancake breakfast! A fan favorite. Dan got the Grandpa's Country Fried steak! That looked good, too, but I was really in the mood for the pancakes.

The leaves really haven't started changing yet so we didn't see much color, but it worked out well because I'd rather do the fall-ish things while the weather is still warm!

Our next stop was Stony Hill Farm in Chester, NJ! This is the site of the most amazing corn maze we have ever done. Last year, we went here and did their Knights and Dragons maze and were BLOWN AWAY at how amazing and challenging it was. I had searched, every fall, for a maze this tough, and was so happy to finally find one. We had to make it back this year. This year's theme was Rutgers 250!

I was a little worried that the theme may be stupid, but it was all good. We parked in the back, I changed my clothes (decided on jeans instead of shorts) and then we headed in. That decision turned out to be not the best -- it was chilly at first but got HOT as we made our way through the maze.

I tried to do this last year, but started too late. This year, I set my GPS walking app as soon as we started. I mapped our entire journey! It took 1 hour and 55 minutes to make it through the maze and we walked a total of 4.89 miles in there! It was intense. I think we did it in less time than last year, and the only reason for that is that we were very systematic this year. What I mean is this: There are rubbings and word clues in each colored section. Last year, we bopped around from color to color and then had to go BACK to get the ones we missed. This year we made sure we got all the rubbings and clues in blue before moving on to the yellow section!

It was really tough and I think we did a great job. We didn't use the iPhone map at all, either. We wanted to do it without "cheating." We did, however, leave some clues for ourselves...using a rock to mark paths that we had been down before! Like a trail of breadcrumbs.

Like I said before, it was HOT in the maze and the sun was beating down. I love fall-adventures with summer weather.

When we finished I got a water. I really should have brought a water with me to the maze. Dan got some apple cider and a donut. We left there and tried to figure out our next move.

We found a nice-looking hotel nearby but then decided that we wanted to go to dinner in Princeton. It was really wild. We had never really been there and wanted to see what it was all about. We found some free street parking and then walked around. It was wild. The buildings were all super-old and really intricately designed. I can't imagine what it must be like to go to college there. It's like going to Hogwarts. We walked into this really old church -- looked like the great hall in Harry Potter. There were girls sitting there studying. On a Saturday night... in a church. It was really wild.

We also found a Pokemon hotspot. There were a lot of Poke Stops and several lures going. I've never found the lure modules to be all that attractive... no pun intended.

Anyway, I did manage to catch some good Pokemon. All-in-all, now that we're home, we managed to get 5 new Pokemon this weekend. Up to this point I had gotten an Aerodactyl (hatched) and a Scyther!

We picked a place for dinner, some local brew place, and put our name in. The wait was 45 minutes to an hour. We walked around for about a half hour and then returned. When we got back there were so many people there complaining. One woman was complaining that they were told 1 hour and it had been an hour and a half. A guy was complaining about a similar situation. I understand their frustration and also understand that it's probably not the fault of the host guy but there was something about his attitude with them that I just didn't like. I don't even know that i can pinpoint exactly what it was because he wasn't outright rude to them, I just didn't like it.

We decided that this didn't bode well for our chances of eating anytime soon so we decided to drop our pager on the counter and depart. We wound up down the street at a place called the Alchemist & Barrister Pub. It was a nice place...

I was going to get the Shepherd's Pie but it came with cheese mixed in and I wasn't a fan of that. Instead I got the lamb stew and I am really happy with my choice. It was really good. We had some drinks and hung out there for a while. As we were eating this wedding party came in for their after-party and kinda took over part of the room. Then, this guy who may or may not work there came over and dimmed the lights. It wasn't a problem for us, but this one couple eating at the table behind us didn't like it. After the tall guy who had first adjusted/turned off some of the lights walked away, the guy from the table got up and turned the light by his table back on. Another guy came over, too, and did something with the lights on the other side of the room. It was weird.

When it was time for us to leave, Dan turned the light BACK OFF on the people at the other table! They immediately looked over and Dan laughed and put it back on! They laughed too. It was a moment.

Once we were done there we took another walk around Princeton and it was such a wild experience. There were so many people out and about and walking around. We also stumbled upon this group of people -- some older and some younger -- who had blocked a pathway and were singing. They were singing all sorts of songs... like a roving glee club or something. We stopped to watch and one of my favorite parts was watching other people come upon this walkway, wanting to get through. They would make their way up the steps and then figure out they couldn't make it. Too many singers. They turned around and came back defeated. Only two girls made it though. I think they were nice and let the girls pass!

There were also guys who kept going into and out of the bushes. I have no idea why. Maybe to pee? Maybe to drink? Not sure. One guy was walking around holding a giant Poland SPring bottle with orange juice (and vodka?) in it!

We made our way back to the car after that and then headed to our hotel. The hotel was about 30 minutes away but on the way back home. We got there, checked in, and then went to get our belongings from the car. The "night auditor" (that's what his nametag said) at the front desk said that as Marriott Rewards members, we got a complimentary non-alcoholic beverage from the fridge. We helped ourselves and I really enjoyed that little perk!

We got to our room and I realized I had forgotten my water in the car. Dan went to take a shower and I went out to get it. When I got back, Dan was in the shower and the whole room smelled like an electrical fire. It was really concerning. I was trying to get ready for my shower and the smell was overpowering and I tried to figure out where it was coming from. I found the source to be the light fixture above the sink.

Dan said it was flickering when he first turned it on. When i got in, one of the bulbs was out and the smell was BAD!

I turned it off, of course, and opened the window. The smell went away after about 15 minutes and was completely got by the time I had showered up.

We watched a little TV...some channel called Decades. There was a weird show on -- I thought it was a movie at first - about a guy named Dr. Cool who predicted an asteroid would hit Earth and some girl was kidnapped and lots of weird things were happening. Sadly, we didn't see the ending. We were exhausted and got to sleep.

So, that was Saturday! A super-success. We had a really fun time and when I have a chance later, I'll be back to let you know how it all went today on our way home.

Until then...

Adios for now. :)