A-Maze-ing

 
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PATCHY: We're busy, busy, busy here at MPA with this, that, and the other thing. But we wanted to make sure we carved out a little time to visit a pumpkin patch and corn maze this year, and that's just what we did today.

Since we've moved a bit south of Seattle, I looked around our immediate vicinity for options. It's not too terribly far until it becomes farm country in these parts!

A clear choice quickly became Carpinito Brothers, in south Kent, WA. They had a Sasquatch corn maze this year, we'd never been there before, and it was about 15 minutes from home. Sold!

We arrived a little before 2 p.m. It wasn't sunny, but it wasn't raining, so we were happy enough with the latter to make up for the former. 

Check out this cool grid, below. Carpintino works with MazePlay (http://www.mazeplay.com/), a corn maze company out of Idaho. 

Per Carpintino's website, "In previous years, we would plant a full field of corn, and when the corn was about a foot tall, MazePlay would drive a small tractor with a roto-tiller and cut away the paths in the shape of the maze. But now they have a new process which is remarkable and extremely effective. This year, they planted the corn exactly to the design of the maze. Think about that. How it works is a tractor with a seed planter will do passes, back and forth on a bare field. The seed planter communicates with a digital file of our maze map, and drops seeds where there needs to be corn, and doesn’t drop seeds where there are paths. Imagine all the stopping and starting the seed planter must do during each pass with all those paths."

Pretty cool, isn't it? 

I have to say, this corn maze was the tallest and thickets and healthiest we've seen in our 10-ish years of greater Seattle area corn maze traipsing. 

There were 12 checkpoints to find within the maze. We found them all with no trouble, thanks to a very accurate map handed out before entrance. 

We were grateful that our maze trip was almost entirely mud free, and it was entirely rain free. 

We do kind of wish we'd gone an hour later, when blue skies dominated. Oh well, if that's the biggest complaint, we're lucky!

Before leaving, we picked up a couple of pumpkins (of course!), as well as some other on-site gorwn produce, including kale, green onions, celery and cabbage. 

Hands down, it was the nicest produce of its type I've seen ever. We need to get down to Carpintino's for produce on a regular basis!

Lucky #13

UNICORN-Y: We interrupt our European travelogue recap to bring you more recent news. Specifically, Annabelle turned 13.

We have been talking for months (years?) about her getting some color in her hair, and we decided her thirteenth birthday was a good time to make that happen.

Last Friday we went to Steven at Salon Spectrum in Burien on the recommendation of a waitress we know who has fabulous rainbow hair. Poor Steven didn't know what he was getting into when he booked Annabelle's appointment over the phone. The estimate was it would take two hours. It took twice that, because of her super loooooong and thick hair.

The first step was bleaching the ends.

Next up, time to add some cobalt blue. In the end, she had an ocean of curls and was super happy!

Monday afternoon, Annabelle had a few friends gather in Ballard for a small party at Full Tilt, an ice cream parlor and arcade. They have a nice birthday party package where you can bring your own food in (we brought in some Costco pizza, and unicorn candy pops we made), plus kids get a soda and a custom ice cream designed by the birthday person.

Annabelle requested a Unicorn Ice Dream flavored dessert. She chose vanilla bean ice cream, with M&Ms, rainbow sprinkles and mini marshmallows. It was a party in a tub!

The Full Tilt scooper even served the ice cream up unicorn style - in a cup, with a sugar cone horn.

We also had some super special Unicorn Froot Loops - which we sought out and carried back from Europe! (For whatever silly reason, they're not available in the States.)

All in all, it was a really nice afternoon with some nice families, fun games and great treats. 

BOUNCING BOY: In other news, we have a trampoline. A biggish one. We've always had a little jogger/exercise sized one, and it has forever been CJ's favorite exercise outlet. However, a couple of days ago, an ad popped up on one of the email Moms and Dads lists I'm on, a full size trampoline for just $50. We were on it immediately, and were lucky to be chosen to buy it from the list of the 'yes, please!' people. (The key: Always in your response tell them how and when you can pick it up.)

So, the kids are happy jumpers now - fun!

Going Dutch

WINDING AND WINDMILLS:  After Dover, Dunkirk, and Bruges, the next big item on our 'to do' list was heading eastward, toward Germany. 

We drove through a bit of The Netherlands along the way. One can't help but think 'windmills' when thinking of The Netherlands. While we didn't see any traditional old windmills, we saw lots of these wind turbines!

A significant part of our entire trip involved driving from point to point, but we didn't just want to make the journey all about getting there, we wanted interesting stops along the way. That's where our stop at Labyrint Drielandenpunt came in. 

Back when we were plotting our map for our trip, I Googled interesting or odd places to visit in Europe. I wound up on the "Atlas Obscura" page, and on an article about Labyrint Drielandenpunt. Its name translates into three country labyrinth, and it's so named because on the grounds of the attraction, you can stand where Netherlands, Belgium and Germany meet.

Once we found the attraction, one of the hardest parts of the puzzle was figuring out where to park. With that hurdle out of the way, we made our way toward the hedgerow, Europe’s largest outdoor shrub maze. 

I have to say, I was not expecting to hear "Summer Nights" from the American musical "Grease" playing, loudly, over the PA as we approached the ticket booth. 

We paid our admission, and hoped we were up to the challenge. But before entering the maze, we couldn't pass up this photo opp. Nothing says The Netherlands like oversized wooden shoes!

Reviews I had read about the labyrinth said to expect to spend 1.5 to two hours to make your way through it, and that it was hard. Reviewers suggested asking other visitors for help. 

Well, we happened to be there late on a *** afternoon, and there were only two other small parties on site neither of which spoke English. That, and we didn't have phones with Internet access, nor do they give you maps at the entrance. 

We were on our own.  

The maze was definitely a challenge for four weary travelers. When it started to feel like maybe it was too tough, I reminded myself (and the family) that we had been in corn mazes that, geographically, were MUCH bigger than this here maze.

Fortunately, there were some uplifting distractions along the way, as well.

As we worked our way toward the center, we came to realize the way to the middle wasn't a straight line, and the route that got you closest to the center wasn't always the right route.

There were a couple of up-and-over bridges in the labyrinth. When we got to this one, we spied and tried to pick a path forward. 

Fortunately, our studying paid off, and we were soon to the gazebo in the center!

I went back to the bridge over and snapped a shot of the intrepid travelers in the middle!

Below, Annabelle shares some recollections from our brief visit to the labyrinth.

Labyrint Drielandenpunt is a large labyrinth technically located in Vaals, Netherlands. I say technically, because the labyrinth is actually located in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands all at once- when you stand in the middle (at the finish) you can run around and be in all three countries at once!

The labyrinth is actually fairly difficult and requires a bit of thought and planning. It includes multiple water obstacles that you must step through to progress (some are on a timer- others are not).

The Labyrint is obviously oriented towards kids, as there are drums, chimes, and smaller mazes on certain signs throughout. A cool fact about the labyrinth is that it is in the shape of a lion, a falcon, and a dragon, each representing one country.

The labyrinth took us about an hour to complete, which seems to be the average time. The Labyrint was fun but challenging, and I would strongly recommend it if you’re ever in Vaals!

A couple of other interesting factoids: The site is not only the most South-Easterly place in the Netherlands, but it's also the country's highest spot. 

All in all, it was a super fun stop that certainly broke up the monotony of the drive!

Next stop: Achen, Germany!

Friet-ful Experience

WITH A SIDE OF FRIES:  In my seemingly never-ending quest to play catch up, I'm still way behind on chronicling our excellent European adventure.

We started off by landing in London (Gatwick), spent the night in Dover, took a ferry over to Dunkirk/Dunkerque, France, and then drove up to Bruges, Belgium, for night number two.

Before leaving Bruges, we had one important item to check off on our 'to do' list. Funnily enough, it wasn't even on the list until a bit after we arrived in Bruges.  However, in the lobby of our hotel, we happened to see a little flyer about the Friet Museum. 

We don't really read or write any Dutch or Flemish, but we know fries (frites) when we see them and the thought of a whole museum dedicated to the deep fried wonders? Be still our hearts! 

Suddenly, it became SUPER IMPORTANT to find said museum and tour it. So, that's just what we did. We were waiting at its door when it opened that morning.

A museum dedicated to the history of the fries is an interesting concept, and it was a surprisingly compelling collection.

We loved the artsy, suspended potato mobile near the entrance. 

The history of the potato was documented. Most agree its roots are in Peru.

Then, the story became about how potatoes made their way from Peru to Belgium. 

This book, below, is thought ot be one of the oldest writings about the glorious potato. 

Displays in the museum extolled the many attributes of potatoes, including its medicinal qualities. 

Throughout the museum, there were a number of photo opps. Who could past this one up? Not us!

One section of the museum was all about implements used to cut fries. I have to admit, it's hard not to type FRENCH fries. We learned in the museum that fries probably maybe might have originated in Belgium.

Did you know Belgian fries have been to space? I did not, but we saw a video of them heading space-ward in the museum!

 There was even a display all about the various paper kinda cones that they are served in in Belgium.

All sorts of friets art was to be found in the museum. I wish I had something to show you the scale of the friets shop below. It was micro tiny!! Half the size of a shoe box, and so detailed!

We saw this fry guy not just at the museum, but in a number of places in our travel in Europe. We're thinking he must be the face of friets for some restaurant chain or brand of friets. 

There were a couple of pretend friets stands in the museum. 

Christian and the kids pretended to whip up some.

A friets food truck!

So, before we came to the museum, we'd had the most WONDERFUL breakfast. We were stuffed. But, can I tell you that after wandering through three floors of friets-related displays, suddenly you're hungry. And not just for anything, but for FRIES!!!

As luck would have it, there is a fry shop right in the basement of the museum. 

We had the place to ourselves and had some AMAZING friets, complete with "American" sauce. :)

Bottom line: If you're ever in Bruges, Belgium, you simply MUST visited the Friet Museum. 

Here's a short review from CJ: 

Frietmuseum is a museum in Bruges, Belgium, dedicated to the history of fries (and, by extension, potatoes). Frietmuseum is the first (and currently only) known museum in the world with the subject of fries.

My family visited Frietmuseum during our European trip this year. The street floor of the museum tells the story of how potatoes started in Peru, were domesticated (made larger, tastier, and more edible) by Native Peruvians, and brought to Europe (in particular Belgium) by European colonists.

In Europe, some chefs cut the potatoes into rectangles and fried them, thus making food that resembles modern french fries. In the early 20th century, "fry shops" (carts like food trucks that sold fries) were commonplace.

In the basement of Frietmuseum, there is a cafe that sells fries. The fries are sold alongside a special sauce made with ketchup, mayonnaise, and pickle bits.

There were mentions of what sauces have been served with friets over the years. I wish I had taken a photo of them all - and the list of sauces offered in the restaurant - but this is what I have.

And I just found this photo on my phone. One of the many artsy freit displays. It was about as tall as me.

Beautiful Bruges

BELGIUM BOUND: Our second night abroad was Sunday, Oct. 24. After taking a ferry from Dover, UK, to Dunkirk, France, we headed up the west coast of France to Belgium, stopping in the lovely city of Bruges for the night.

In northwest Belgium, Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of the country.

Our home for the night was Hotel 't Keizershof http://www.hotelkeizershof.be/

It was clean, convenient, affordable, had parking on site, and though it was advertised as a shared bathroom, we had the third floor to ourselves (the two windows on the right side of the building below). It was a wonderful starting spot to explore the pretty city on foot.

Our view out the hotel room window was this pretty building. I took a photo because the end of it was so pretty. I had no idea it was such a big deal (literally). Turns out it's the Minnewater Clinic, a former Catholic hospital for 'needy' women and children, run by the Sisters of Love of Jesus and Mary. It's now a residential care center. It stretches for a couple of city blocks (by Seattle standards) beyond the brick end we spied out our window.

Believe it or not, the first thing we did after dumping our backpacks off at the hotel was head across the canal to a huge flea market, Called Zandfeesten, it's held over three weekends during the summer. (We happened upon it by happy accident - a trend on this vacation.) The market is held in the sprawling Koning Albertpark (King Albert I park).

There were thousands upon thousands of things to see ... everything from comic books to mid-century modern furniture; cuckoo clocks to super antique oddities.

Naturally, since we were traveling abroad and traveling super light, we weren't in a position to pick up much of anything.

But guess what we did find at one booth ... a Shar-pei calendar for 2018. (In case you haven't heard, CJ is obsessed with Shar-pei, and the fact that we found a keepsake at this market made us all very happy.)

After the market, we were all feeling the drag of jet lag. The kids fell asleep for a couple of hours. About 7 p.m., we knew that 

The owner of the hotel we stayed in owns a number of properties, including the restaurant next door, de Stoepa.

It was soooo hard getting CJ, especially, out of bed. He wanted to be down for the night, but I knew if we let him be, he'd wake up in a couple of hours, starving, and we had no food to give him. 

We took him downstairs, he was draped over the table, but this brought him back to life ... the most amazing plate of spaghetti bolognese we'd ever seen. He inhaled it and two Coka Zeros in no time flat, and he was a new man. 

The next morning it was back to the table, this time at another restaurant our hotelier owns, 

• Restaurant 't Bagientje.

What a beautiful breakfast. 

 Can you imagine eating like this every day? A girl can dream, right?

After breakfast, we were off on foot to explore the city. Our eventual destination was the Frites Museum (that's right, an institution paying homage to fried potatoes), but that's a story for another day, like tomorrow.

What a picturesque place Bruges is. There are canals and cobblestone roads all over.

We walked our way toward its world famous market square.

The Grotemarkt sees three to four million visitors a year, per Visit Bruges, and has had a market operated on the site continuously since 985. (Wednesday is Market day. We missed that.)

However, it's a spectacle any day of the year. Below is the provincial court, Provinciaal Hof.

Horse-drawn carriages wait to take you on a tour of the city.  The statute in the middle is of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck, Bruges heroes dating back to the early 1300s.

The imposing Belfry Tower can also be seen from the market. We were treated to the belfry's chiming multiple times during our walk.  A medieval bell tower, it was added to the market square around 1240. A devastating fire destroyed much of it, and in 1280, the tower was largely rebuilt. 

We could even see the belfry when we were visiting the Bruges Bottle Shop, stocking up on some of Belgium's finest - and a couple of IPAs from elsewhere, to please our Seattle palates.

During our stroll, we walked through a very modern commercial district that had stores qith marquees you'd expect to see in any American mall, including a Claire's and a McDonald's.

Oh, and did I mention we found some lovely old unicorn art? Check it out in the photo below!

We also happened to cross paths with Del Halve Maan, or Half Moon Brewery (home to Christian's favorite Belgian beer, Brugse Zot).

The brewery is famous for its beer pipeline under Bruges' streets. Check out this fun factoid, from the brewery's website: 

Since 16th September 2016 our beer travels through our unique pipeline, connecting the brewery in the inner city to the bottling plant, over a distance of 3.2 km. This unique project was not only realized to reduce the heavy truck traffic in the inner city and the ecological footprint but also to keep the production where it has been for the last 160 years. The first “zotte” ideas started in 2012 when there were works on the utilities on the Walplein. A similar project never had been attempted so it came with an array of challenges. The pipeline was inaugurated with an unforgettable party, many of the crowdfunders who made this project possible were part of the honor guests. There were numerous interviews regarding the pipeline and we were in the news worldwide!

Below: Random old building. Actually, it's not random at all, but my memory is. I think this day in Bruges was the hardest, jet-lag wise. I had There were many, and they were intriguing and compelling and I neglected to catch all of their names.

The Church of Our Lady is another dominant fixture in the Bruges' skyscape. Its tower is 115 metres (377 ft) high, and is the tallest structure in Bruges, so it was a good landmark for us as we were wandering around kind of lost at times. The Church of Our Lady also happens to be the second tallest brickwork tower in the world (second only to St. Martin's Church in Landshut, Germany).

Our last Bruges memory? A swan song - there was a small park with a flock (OK, a game of swans, to be correct, apparently. It's a wedge of swans in the air, and a game on the ground).