Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Cherry Crest Adventure Farm

This "weekend" was mighty busy in our house! It stretched over 4 days and was pretty much non-stop from Friday morning till Monday night. I had declared this weekend, Summer bucket list Weekend! With summer almost over and nearly half of the bucket list un-checked, it was time to buckle down and have some fun! We had a blast this weekend! We visited 3 different attractions from Javon's list and over the next week I hope to share a rundown of each place so you know what to expect if you make any end of summer adventures!
 
First up is Cherry Crest Adventure Farm!
 
Cherry Crest Adventure Farm is a place that I absolutely love! I remember going here with my summer camp a few times when I was in elementary school, and how much fun all of us kids had. They have about twice as many activities now then what I can remember then so of course Javon loves this place too! The last time we visited was 2 years ago, so Javon was pretty young and didn't really remember much, but once we pulled into the parking lot, he was beyond excited at the vast field of fun that lay in front of him! 
 
We arrived about 30 minutes after opening on a Friday, and I was honestly shocked at the crowd level. I was picturing pandemonium in my head with bus loads of summer camps and tons of parents and grandparents squeezing in last minute day trips before school resumed. What I found instead was a front row parking spot! No, the place was not dead but there was only a light crowd which was lovely! We proceeded to the admissions both, and you can probably guess what comes next! I had a coupon, of course! The entertainment book mobile app, which you can only use if you purchase a book, offered a buy one, get one on admission so this was a great value for Javon and I! Once we were handed wristbands and let loose inside the property, Javon took off for the Pedal Carts we could see from outside. 2 Separate tracks are made in hay bales, one track for smaller kids and another for the taller kids and adults. Javon was just short for the larger carts so he settled on the smaller carts (he had no other choice) and took off racing around the track!
 
 
Once he took a final lap, he was ready to take on the corn maze! This would be Cherry Crest Adventure Farms' biggest attraction! Every year a 5-acre corn maze springs to life with a new theme. This years theme is "Music through the decades". We lined up with a few other family and waited to be led into the staging area, it had a name which I forget. The rules of the maze are explained along with the different challenges. Easy, intermediate and advanced. Once you watch a little video and receive the sales pitch for 5$ pens that have a secret maze map inside, your let loose to get lost. We choose to do the intermediate challenge, which meant locating the orange clue signs along the way to lead us through, which finding a little over half the game pieces. It is said that the orange path takes around 45 minutes.
 
 
We took off through the maze with a fast pace and made it to our first mailbox which held a map piece rather quickly, I was mighty confident that we would be out of there in less then 30 minutes! We raced from mailbox to mailbox, clue to clue and somewhere our fast pace got the best of us and we were lost! A sign said stay left and we stayed right and around in circles we went until we returned to the miss-read clue and were set on back on the right track. Still we finished the maze a minute shy of an hour but we also managed to snag a few extra map pieces we would not have if we didn't get lost. It was so much fun though, an hour felt like much less and I honesty could of stayed in there till we found all the pieces and next time we may go for the advanced challenge!
 
 



 
After the maze, we headed over to the farm experience center, which is a hands on learning barnyard, complete with live animals you can feed! I sadly forgot cash, so we did not get to feed the animals this trip as I didn't have quarters for the machines but we still enjoyed viewing all the different animals. We then stepped inside the barn, where Javon was able to hold a baby chick! How cute!
 
 

 
We ended the day with stops at the rest of the attractions, we took a wagon ride from a loading spot outside of the barn which took us on a tour of the property and the large working farm, the wagon then unloaded in "The Barnyard" area which has tons of different activities including large pillow jumpers, slides, a playground, hay mazes, slingshots, and more. Javon had an absolute blast at Cherry Crest Adventure Farm! When we finally retreated to our car hours later, we were covered in dust and dirt but we could not care less because of the amazing time we had together!
 
 Corny's Ball-cade featured 4 different sections for Baseball, Football, Basketball and Soccer. Perfect for all sport lovers!
 
 
Post pounders and The straw bale racer slide
 
Pillow Jump and Hay Maze
 

 Strasburg Railroad runs right through the center of the farm!

Giant Slinger was a big hit!


 
 
If you go:
 
Where: The heart of Amish Country!
150 Cherry Hill Road
Ronks, PA 17572
 
When: Cherry Crest Adventure farm is open May-November. Hours and days vary. Cherry Crest Adventure Farm is closed on Sundays and Mondays during the summer season.
 
How much: 15$ per person during the summer season. Other rates vary.
 

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