Back from a Ravenchase race in Philly! We had a great time, even though it was 3 days of racing in the cold (long underwear FTW).
Coolest clue: we were given a black skull with a barely visible phone number to call and the marking 33 degrees. Calling the number gave us a clue and 33 meant make the skull hot (don't ask). We held the skull over a flame (other teams ran it under hot water in the starbuck's bathroom) and the black faded to reveal writing *all over* the skull. When it got cold again the black reappeared. We had to hold it in the fire, hurry and transcribe, then back in the fire, repeat. It was awesome!![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
durdge and Jem have the skull now.
We also had some good clues that involved finding names in cemeteries (something that in the past has been traumatic seebayleaf and I in Savannah during GAR).
We spent half of Sat. in the Philadelphia Museum of Art! I was in heaven! (There was a particularly cool clue involving the bust of Ben Franklin and a patterned floor.) Then we went to the Rodin museum!!!
It was so cold that even bundled up it was hard to clue solve outside (my pens wouldn't work). So we spent a lot of time in bars, coffeeshops, hotel lobbies, and McDonald's. Not so fun. On the other hand we also had clues involving the LOVE sculpture and the giant outdoor thing with huge gamepieces (from monopoly, chess, checkers, sorry, etc.)
Frustrating clues:
-the first clue which was a million pages of text that we didn't think to take the capital letters out of (luckily we got a hint)
-the phone number one I screwed up because I can't subtract (we did think to call! too bad it was the wrong number)
-the St. Paul's one that would have been fine if we had had a better map of Philly
-the column one where we had to place letters into the colored arches of a medieval courtyard at the art museum (ask D. and Jem about this one)
-not being able to find Abe Lincoln outside and then having to move the heavy grate and lie on my stomach for the grabby extender thing to reach the scroll (yes, it was snowing at this time)
-the sundial one we couldn't even get close on because no one thought to have F=6
Good food moments: drinks (martinis and cosmos) and dinner at the Black Sheep Saturday, delicious Belgian sugar waffles at Bonte this morning, and fantastic Peking duck at the good duck place for dinner tonight.
Only could have been better ifbayleaf and uschickens had joined us (and maybe been 20 degrees warmer)! We heard that GAR (Great American Race) is coming back this summer. It's going to be New England (DC to Martha's Vineyard*) Who's in?
*For those less familiar with Ravenchase: The Great American Race (GAR) is a weeklong clue-solving event. 5 of us (me, bayleaf, uschickens, durdge, and Jem) did the summer 2007 GAR which ran through the South. We drove DC to New Orleans via Richmond, Charlotte, Nashville, Savannah, Atlanta, and Panama City. We rented a minivan and solved clues in cities and on the road. It was awesome, and sweaty.)
Coolest clue: we were given a black skull with a barely visible phone number to call and the marking 33 degrees. Calling the number gave us a clue and 33 meant make the skull hot (don't ask). We held the skull over a flame (other teams ran it under hot water in the starbuck's bathroom) and the black faded to reveal writing *all over* the skull. When it got cold again the black reappeared. We had to hold it in the fire, hurry and transcribe, then back in the fire, repeat. It was awesome!
durdge and Jem have the skull now.We also had some good clues that involved finding names in cemeteries (something that in the past has been traumatic see
bayleaf and I in Savannah during GAR).We spent half of Sat. in the Philadelphia Museum of Art! I was in heaven! (There was a particularly cool clue involving the bust of Ben Franklin and a patterned floor.) Then we went to the Rodin museum!!!
It was so cold that even bundled up it was hard to clue solve outside (my pens wouldn't work). So we spent a lot of time in bars, coffeeshops, hotel lobbies, and McDonald's. Not so fun. On the other hand we also had clues involving the LOVE sculpture and the giant outdoor thing with huge gamepieces (from monopoly, chess, checkers, sorry, etc.)
Frustrating clues:
-the first clue which was a million pages of text that we didn't think to take the capital letters out of (luckily we got a hint)
-the phone number one I screwed up because I can't subtract (we did think to call! too bad it was the wrong number)
-the St. Paul's one that would have been fine if we had had a better map of Philly
-the column one where we had to place letters into the colored arches of a medieval courtyard at the art museum (ask D. and Jem about this one)
-not being able to find Abe Lincoln outside and then having to move the heavy grate and lie on my stomach for the grabby extender thing to reach the scroll (yes, it was snowing at this time)
-the sundial one we couldn't even get close on because no one thought to have F=6
Good food moments: drinks (martinis and cosmos) and dinner at the Black Sheep Saturday, delicious Belgian sugar waffles at Bonte this morning, and fantastic Peking duck at the good duck place for dinner tonight.
Only could have been better if
bayleaf and uschickens had joined us (and maybe been 20 degrees warmer)! We heard that GAR (Great American Race) is coming back this summer. It's going to be New England (DC to Martha's Vineyard*) Who's in?*For those less familiar with Ravenchase: The Great American Race (GAR) is a weeklong clue-solving event. 5 of us (me, bayleaf, uschickens, durdge, and Jem) did the summer 2007 GAR which ran through the South. We drove DC to New Orleans via Richmond, Charlotte, Nashville, Savannah, Atlanta, and Panama City. We rented a minivan and solved clues in cities and on the road. It was awesome, and sweaty.)
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