Sunflowers to Sundown

I had recently added something to my bucket list for this summer - to visit a sunflower maze.  We found information on one earlier this month but you know, you have to wait for the flowers to be blooming.  Luckily, the Sussex County Sunflower Maze at Liberty Farm in Sandyston, NJ opened last weekend.  And this being my last Friday off for the summer, I coaxed HWNSNBP into scheduling a trip for first thing this morning.  

It started as somewhat of a cool day being in the high 50's this morning and only supposed to get into the high 70's, and we were going to be at a higher altitude which also held promise of cooler weather, but let me tell you, when the sun came out, it was hot walking around there.

The trip there took nearly an hour-and-a-half (a little longer than anticipated because we did get a little lost).  And we spent close to an hour walking through the maze, stopping to take pictures, many pictures.  

They had sheets with "field marks" for a little scavenger hunt, but we did not do that, we just leisurely strolled through trying to navigate the maze.

And there were places in the fields where the flowers were more intense than others, but they had explained that this was because of some deer and groundhog feasting, and also because they stagger the plantings so everything does not bloom at the same time and the maze can be enjoyed longer.

We had 5 cameras with us, if you count both of our cell phone cameras, but HWNSNBP took turns carrying them and the camera bag with me (and snapping a few of his own pictures on his phone too). 

"I will lift mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help!" - Psalm 121 ran through my head as we looked from the back of the field toward the mountain where all the sunflowers were facing.

The pathways were rocky in some places and in other places we were walking on freshly mowed greens.  I had to be very careful to pick up my feet so as not to trip on anything - the only thing that worried me. 

Two women, I think a mother and daughter were taking turns taking pictures of themselves with the baby that was with them and as we passed one of them noticed the smiley face in the sunflower below.  I thanked her for her "good catch" and promptly captured it too.  We didn't think to ask them to take a picture of us together, believe it or not.

The fields were humming too - with bees.  They were not interested in us at all - which was another good thing.  

There actually were several different sections of the maze and although we didn't enter each one at great length, we did step into them.

The flag was one of the "monuments" to look for on the scavenger hunt.  HWNSNBP thought that finding that meant that we had "conquered the maze".  

After the long drive home, we quickly packed up the truck and headed in the opposite direction.  I think we covered over 300 miles of New Jersey today.

And there was another stellar sunset this evening.