Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.
Sever’s Corn Maze in Shakopee (outside of Minneapolis) is an annual maze which is apparently the largest in the united states. The Google Maps photo was taken sometime in 2002-2003 when the maze depicted an upside-down map of the world, perhaps because opposite magnetic poles attract? (Maze homepage.)
Thanks: byteCoder, Rich Holmes, Brandon & Dan
This form will auto-link URLs or you can use simple HTML, <a href="http://googlesightseeing.com">Like this</a>.
Link to specific places either as a Google Maps page or a decimal latitude and longitude written like this: lat/lng:55.949400,-3.200000.
If you've found an unrelated sight that you think should be posted in its own entry then use the suggestion form!
I’m guessing this maze photo was taken in 2002 or real early 2003. When you look at the arial shot of the complete maze on their website you can see it says Sever’s Corn Maze at the top (bottom) instead of just Sever’s in the google map data.
Not too far away is Placemark: Valley Fair / Google Earth, the local amusement park. Ahhhh.. Valley Fair, I miss it!
If you look to the east and a hair north you’ll see Canterbury Downs race track. I work about a mile east of there and if conditions are right (ripe), you are blessed with the aroma of horse manure. God help you if it’s hot — it usually is during the racing season — and you leave your car windows down.
I suspect that the maps is “upside down” because the entry to the maze is from the North, and it’s likely oriented to the expectation of the entrant.
They must have used the same design for two successive years - surely it grows in the spring and is harvested in the autumn? So the Google photo is probably taken in the opposite year to the one of their website. There seems to be a temporary building that’s in a different place in each picture.
I have been in that maze often. It is a hard one to find your way out of!
I can do you one better - it’s taken on a weekday between mid-August and the end of September.
A bit southwest of Shakopee just west of 169 and south of 41, you’ll see the Minnesota Renaissance Festival grounds. To the north of the grounds is the campground for the staff and actors - you see trailers and tents, so the Festival is up and running. To the south you see the empty parking area (the grassland), which means it’s not a weekend.