Welcome to Marble Falls

Day: 468
High Temp: 55F

The weekend before Halloween, Tom and I took a day trip out to a little town northwest of Austin called Marble Falls. The plan was to pick pumpkins, tackle the giant Texas-shaped corn maze and eat some pie at a famous diner in town.

First off, the pie. It was around 12:30 when we arrived to the Blue Bonnet Cafe, and there was a fairly impressive line waiting for us. Thankfully it moved quickly, and within 15 minutes we were next in line for a table, standing in front of a large bulletin board plastered with locals and (Texas) celebrities who love the pie. Among these Blue Bonnet enthusiasts, I spied Dubbya and Rick Perry. Not very appetizing, but we persevered.

This place is so retro chic.

Thinking that it was too early in the day to just order pie, Tom and I shared an omelette and some biscuits and gravy before deciding on the pie we would eat. It is a tough decision, too, because Blue Bonnet offers at least a dozen options each day, many with a mile high mound of meringue. We stayed classic, though. Tom opted for the apple, while I got the cherry.

Warm pie. 

The verdict? It was okay.  As a person who flatters myself to think I make a pretty damn good pie, it is kind of hard to impress me.  The crust was okay, but both the apple and cherry fillings seemed to be from a can. Maybe I am not being fair to Blue Bonnet... perhaps one of us should have went for a meringue, but honestly, I don't love meringue. Ultimately I would rather have a slice of my own apple pie over the stuff at Blue Bonnet any day. That said, I would be happy to stop back by Blue Bonnet to try some of the tempting cream pies they have next time I am in Marble Falls.

Once we had our fill of diner food, we made our way just a few miles out of town to Sweet Berry Farm, where the Harvest of Fall Fun was in full effect.  Tom and I perused a really great sample of different varieties of pumpkins before finally making a decision.  I love to go for the bumpy, mottled looking pumpkins, and here they were to be found in abundance.  Ultimately, we chose one big round classic Jack, two pimply, spotted Lunch Ladies, a small, smooth, ghostly white Lumina and a green stripy Caveman gourd.

The bounty of the Harvest. We'll take one of each!

With our pumpkins tucked safely in the back of Elly, we then traipsed over to the other side of the farm to partake in the legendary Texas Corn Maze (check out a birds eye view of the maze here- you have to click on Hay Field Maze 'Texas' because their website is a little odd and won't let me link directly to it.)

Each entrant is given a ticket with 12 locations that correspond to 12 check points check points hidden within the maze.  The locations are actual spots in Texas, and are located roughly within the Tsxas maze where you would find them on an actual Texas map. the object is to find all 12 and punch your ticket with the little hole puncher waiting at the check point. Each station has a different shape, so the workers can tell if you actually completed the task. If you do, you win a can of pop. It was hotter than it should be at the end of October, with temperatures in the upper 80s, so Tom and I didn't complete the maze. But we did have a lot of fun trying.

Corn stalks... as high as a giraffe's eye at least, I would say.
But then again, everything is bigger in Texas.