The Corn Maize

There is a corn field maze just north of here which is pretty popular. They host LCS as a fundraiser for the school, so we went out to check it out. They have a pretty cool setup - lots of fun things to do. Obviously, the main reason you go is for the maze - or MAiZE as they call it.

Here is a picture of this year's maze:

You really do not get a feel for the size from above like this. Each of the thin lines around the edges are just a little wider than my arm span.

They let you go in without a map, or you can get a set of clues. There are 10 numbers throughout the maze and you have to answer a question (we picked the Bible and sports questions) and based on your answer, you are told to turn left or right. Or, you can do like we did and use this:


I am walking along tracing my finger on where we are most of the first half. Then we got lost in the second half and wandered around the 0 and the Y of years for a while. Finally, I realized the ultimate cheat - they drive the quickest path with a four-wheeler at the start of the day and since we are still recovering from 8 inches of rain, you just follow the tracks!

We did make it all the way through and had a lot of fun doing so. Here is a shot of us on one of the bridges overlooking the maze. Surprisingly, at least to me, is the fact that you could not even tell what it was when looking over the top of it.


I talked to the guy who owns the place. Making a maze involves sending a picture to this company and they give you back a grid. You set up the GPS and autosteer on the tractor and then plant corn in a set grid. You then go through when the corn is about yo high and plant by plant you use the grid to figure out which ones to kill off with Roundup. He had pictures and everything. Very cool! Here's their portion of the website, just in case you are interested.

Caption this photo...

Here's your chance to provide a caption for this picture of our children - one who wants to be a dog, one who just wants a dog.

Three from the outing

I was going to wait until Thursday for another triple shot, but couldn't wait.

Windmills

Dad has blogged about our trip to the American Wind Power Center and Museum and has occasionally enlightened us about the capacity of windmill generation in various principalities and states throughout the US. I really do not have anything to add to what he has said (especially about capacity - I don't have time to look all of that stuff up!!) except to say "Amen!"

I did, however, add the pictures we took of the day to flickr. You can find those here, if you are so inclined.

Another Great Day at Lubbock Aero

Today I look at the Lubbock Avalanche Journal online and discover this article. We have already blogged about our wonderful adventures at Lubbock Aero, such as here (with pictures) and here. This is also the airport Nannie flew out of. So in keeping with our plane theme, I decide to pick up Luke from school and head on out to the Lubbock Aero (Just in case you ever want to visit them. They seem to be very friendly people.)

The planes are owned by The Collings Foundation, which if you look at their web site, you will discover they own lots of planes and cars. They are basically a flying museum, heading out to about 125 locations a year and offering plane rides for people to help support their upkeep and flying costs. Not just any plane ride, mind you. Planes like these...


This is a good thing and a bad thing. It is good because I am sure there are plenty of people in the world who love flying on these planes. (There were plenty of people in Lubbock who enjoyed a ride on one of these planes!) This is a bad thing because Luke will not be one of them. At the time, I thought is cost $3,000 a person for a flight. That is actually the cost for an hour lesson in the P-51. We could have gotten by with just $425 per person. That's still too much. (Although I won't say I wouldn't have considered it for a half-second!)

I have a collection of pictures here on Flickr, but here are a couple to enjoy now.


This is the Ball Turret on the B-17, "Nine-O-Nine." You have to be very, very small to ride in this thing. And very, very stupid (As evidenced here.) Here is a link about the Nine-O-Nine and another here. The original "Nine-O-Nine" was scrapped, but appeared in the painting "Full House - Aces High."


I believe this is officially called the Waist Gunner on the B-24, "Witchcraft". Pretty cool wall of honor -- it's on the side of the plane to Luke's left. It actually takes up the entire side. The paint schemes are not from the original planes, but are done to honor previous planes. Here is an article from the the Collings Foundation about renaming the B-24 "Witchcraft" and a link about the original plane.


This is the nose of the B-25, "Tondelayo." Notice there are no close-ups of the nose art of this aircraft. There is a reason for that (link appropriate for work and other locations and to be viewed by most everyone).

All in all, it was a fun time. We came home, started the grill, and Luke was bumming about not getting to ride or watch the planes fly off, when lo-and-behold, the B-24 flew by overhead. We later saw the B-17. Not what you usually expect to see flying around Lubbock, Texas.

January's Family Day Out

I was in the Wells Fargo Bank building this week, where I came across the Chamber's large display of things to do in Lubbock. I got to thinking about how many things there are to do in Lubbock, yet we have not done many of them. Maybe it's that whole "You don't go to the Capitol if you live in Austin" or "You don't ever go skiing if you live in Denver" thing. So, I grabbed a couple of pamphlets and off we went for our first monthly day out. (We think we will try to do something once a month. We may not and this may be the last monthly update...)

We decided to go to the Silent Wings Museum (find out more here).



Lubbock was once the training site for WWII glider pilots and now has a museum telling the story of the gliders in WWII. Very interesting, with a refurbished glider, several WWII jeeps tanks, etc. Definitely worth a trip.

This was my favorite picture from our outing.


It is looking down the barrel of this...


There are more pictures on flickr.

The Silent Wings museum is a partner with the Buddy Holly Center (here) and so if you go to one, you can go to the other within 48 hours. We went ahead and did this one, too. I think dad would especially enjoy seeing some of the things they have about Buddy Holly, so we will have to put that one on the list to do as well.



I thought it was interesting that we picked today to come since this was in the paper this morning.