Our Own Amazing Race!

Do you watch The Amazing Race on CBS? Susan and I are big fans, so we were very excited to be invited to participate in our own "amazing race" in Grand Forks, ND tonight! We have several friends--married couples with children about our kids' ages--who get together every month for some activity. Often it's a family "game night" when the kids hang out together and play while the adults have beverages and play board games and talk. Sometimes we get babysitters for the kids and get together--adults only--for drinks and dinner, maybe a movie, etc. In February, we gathered at one couple's home for a more elaborate outing: an Iron Chef-style cooking contest. Tonight, one couple hosted and arranged a scavenger hunt/activity challenge--like The Amazing Race--that took us across the city of Grand Forks!

We were told ahead of time to bring a digital camera, a pencil, a flashlight, and shoes to run in. We arrived at Curt and Jen's (the hosts) house at 6:00 P.M. to enjoy soda pop and appetizers. We gathered in their living room around 6:30 P.M. to hear the rules and begin. Each team (married couple) was given a $5 bill, which was the total amount we were allowed to use for any and all purchases necessary throughout the night. Each team had to choose one member to do the food challenge that would begin the race; I was selected. We went to the kitchen to find four salad plates covered with soup bowls. When Jen said "go," we were to take off the bowls and eat whatever was on the plate. As soon as we finished, we could get our first clue from Jen in the living room. We uncovered the plates to find individual Jell-O molds of this recipe: blended lemon Jell-O and mayonnaise in which were suspended green olives, green onions, pimentos, celery, and dried beef. Although I have had this recipe before (truly!), I was not the speediest eater; there were four couples playing, and the husbands from two teams finished before me. The wife from a third team refused to eat it, so she had to take a penalty: wait 10 minutes after the last person finished eating it before proceeding to the next clue. And here were the clues/challenges in order:

#1 -- Deck It -- You must make a complete deck of cards from the pile. Put them in order: ace-king clubs, ace-king spades, ace-king diamonds, and ace-king hearts. If they are not in the right order, you will have to start ALL over again. When you complete this challenge correctly, Jen will give you your next clue. There were several decks of cards scattered face-down on the living room carpet, some with a red back and others with a blue. We joined the two teams already kneeling on the carpet sorting cards. It took a while because Susan and I assumed we needed cards all with the same color back, but Jen didn't appear to check for that when we turned them in. The other teams were very friendly and cooperative, allowing us to look through the piles of cards they had collected but didn't need. On the real Amazing Race, couples would have hidden any extra cards or at least put them face-down back into the pile to make their competitors' search all the harder. Jen gave us this note: Drive to the Ralph Engelstad Arena and meet Curt at the Sitting Bull statue. He will have your next clue. And we were off.

#2 -- Count It -- Count all of the green flags attached to the REA. Come back to Sitting Bull and tell Curt how many flags you counted. Count accurately, or you will have to recount or be assessed a 10-minute penalty for each number you are off to acquire your next clue. When Curt and Jen thought of this challenge, there were 40 flags flying from the REA; tonight, Curt got there ahead of us to find most of them removed! He saw only two above the front door and didn't have time to check all the way around the building before we arrived; we found a third on the north side, but that was it. Curt accepted "two" as an answer, because that's all he could see. He also accepted our answer of "three," because what did he know? Maybe we were right! There was much running around that monstrous facility, and I had to ignore my cousin Rachelle (a UND student), who was rollerblading there and probably thought it was pretty rude of me to run right past her without visiting! Susan wasn't very amused with the running and did plenty of walking between bursts of jogging. We left there still in third place.

#3 -- Santa or Snoopy -- Read both descriptions and choose to do one. If you are unable to complete one, you may attempt the other. Santa: Take photos of four houses that still have Christmas decorations in their yard or on the house. Lights count. Snoopy: Take photos of one member of your team with the following characters: Strawberry Shortcake, Ronald McDonald, Dora the Explorer, Darth Vader, and Barbie. The characters can be in any form, but it has to be the exact character. When you complete this detour, return to Curt and Jen's house to verify your completion of the task and receive your next clue. Because it seemed likely to take a long time to hunt for decorated houses, we decided to stop by McDonald's for a photo and then find the other figures on movie covers at Blockbuster. We were seconds behind another team pulling into the parking lot, posing in front of a poster, and leaving! We felt weird running into Blockbuster, posing for photos, and then running out without having bought anything--we didn't want them to suspect us of shoplifting! We were alone when reporting to Jen's, so we couldn't tell what place we might be in.

#4 -- Pick It -- Find a pick-a-mix distribution at a local store. Purchase .15-.20 pounds of candy. You must return the candy with your receipt to Jen at their house before you can get your next clue. We went to Hugo's, a grocery store just a couple blocks from their house. One couple was just leaving as we arrived! Susan spotted the candy bins, and we used a scale in the produce department to weigh some caramel candies. Another team was just arriving as we made our way to the aisle to purchase! We had to remove a few candies before buying because the scale at checkout was more accurate and showed that we were slightly over on the weight of the candy. I had to return a few caramels (I tossed them onto the scale being used by the third team!) while Susan paid. We left the building in second place, but the first team was returning, having to redo the challenge! It seems they had bought .30 pounds of candy and just eaten some of it on the way to Curt and Jen's! That didn't work; the receipt had to show the correct weight, so they returned to Hugo's and asked the clerk to let them re-buy the very same (albeit slightly lighter) bag of candy! That put us into first place! (And when we checked in, Jen said, "Oh, good, I like caramels.")

#5 -- Swish It -- You must choose one member of your team to complete this task. The next task must be completed by the OTHER member of your team. Choose wisely. You must make three of the five marked shots on the driveway. If other teams arrive, Curt will facilitate taking turns. When you complete this task, Curt will give you your next clue. We decided that I would do it, since I played basketball in high school and had done so again just the other night, in fact. It took a couple tries at each mark, but it went relatively quickly.

#6 -- Find Him -- Drive to the Memorial Union on UND's campus. Find Tony there. He will advise you of your next task. Once completed, he will give you your next clue. It took a couple loops through the Union parking lot to find a spot, but we were still the first team to arrive. We started at the information desk. I asked whether there was a Tony working, and the woman called the Union manager's office, who was not in his office (it was after 7:00 P.M. on a Friday, so that was a long-shot anyway). I then asked if she could use the public address system to page Tony, but she was reluctant to do that. So we went off hunting down males and asking them if they were Tony. People were caught off guard and probably thought we were retarded, but they were pretty polite about it. Soon, two other teams showed up and tagged after us--sassafras! We finally found Tony downstairs playing pool. The task that Susan had to complete (since I had shot the baskets) was to make a shot that Tony lined up: use the white ball to hit another ball to hit a third ball into a corner pocket. I pointed to where on the second ball she might hit, and she made it in right away. (She attributed her success not to me but to her genes, since her family has a few pool sharks in it.) Tony gave us the next clue.

#7 -- Drive It -- Drive to Wendy's on South Washington St. Find Jen and she will give you your next clue. We did, and she did. (Still in first place.)

#8 -- Hot or Cold -- This challenge must be completed by the person who did not attempt the first eating challenge. Hot or Cold challenge: Purchase a small Frosty or a large French fries. You must sit with Jen and consume the item you chose to purchase with no beverage. Try to do this quickly, as this could help you team get ahead. When you complete your task, Jen will give you another clue. Since I ate the Jell-O concoction, Susan did this one and chose fries. ALL the other teams caught up with us at this location!! One team ordered a Frosty, and then she decided she couldn't eat it, so they had to dip into their money for fries. On another team, the husband blew on the hot fries while the wife ate. The fourth-place team bolted into first because, although they arrived last, the husband consumed the fries in about three gulps. My encouragement for Susan consisted of telling her to hurry up because others were about done eating! We slipped into second place and got our next clue.

#9 -- Figure It -- Cryptogram: Finish this cryptogram. Do what it says, and Jen will give you your next clue. The cryptogram had a key telling what numbers represented what letters, but we were supposed to figure most of them out; it only gave us the values of E, H, and L--and here's the phrase we were given: _ E _ _ _ E _ _ H _ _ _ H _ _. It didn't take long for us to guess it: "Tell her that's hot" ("That's hot!" is an in-joke amongst this group of friends). I whispered the phrase to her, and we got our next clue.

#10 -- Ticket or Tickets -- Choose one of these tasks. If you fail to finish the one you choose, you may attempt the other. Find a ticket stub with today's date on it. OR Go to Happy Joe's and obtain 14 game tickets. When you have complete your detour, bring your proof to the Grand Forks Town Square, the finish line of the Amazing Race. Good luck! We left the parking lot of Wendy's just seconds behind the team that had been in fourth place all along. Aargh! Nerve-wracking. We thought of buying a ticket to a movie, but we didn't have enough money. Happy Joe's isn't too far south from Wendy's, so we went there and started playing games in their arcade in order to win tickets. It was going okay until the games stopped in mid-play without allowing us to collect our tickets or continue playing! We went to the front to report it, but instead Susan found an employee seated eating. She asked him if we could just have some tickets, explaining that we were on a scavenger hunt. He opened up a machine and pulled off the number of tickets we still needed and gave them to us for free. As we were leaving, and before he had shut up the machine, another team arrived! We raced off, and they ended up getting their tickets the same way--but without having to spend any time or money in advance playing the games. We drove to downtown Grand Forks where the Town Square is, swore at slow drivers in front of us, ignored my cousin Jeffrey (who called out to us from his motorcycle as he waited at a traffic light), and raced across the square to the stage at one corner where Curt and Jen were waiting with a rug, similar to the check-in mat that contestants of the real Amazing Race must stand on when arriving at the final pit stop. Jen said, "Welcome to Grand Forks" (a nod to the "welcome to . . ." that real contestants receive wherever they end up around the world), and Curt counted our tickets. Then, in the style of Phil, the TV show's host, he said, "Kevin and Susan, you are the . . . SECOND team to arrive." Then, from behind the back wall of the stage emerged the team that had been in last place the whole time, having had to wait 10 minutes at the start for not eating the Jell-O! They had arrived about 10 minutes before us because they had just stopped at a grocery store and bought a lottery ticket, giving them a stub with today's date. Clever. And it got them the win.

We all hid and re-hid as the next teams arrived, and it was a blast to hear the stories of their own races: where they had fallen behind, decisions they had made at each stop, arguments they had gotten into with one another, what they had guessed all along about the progress of other teams, etc. We had nothing but respect and congratulations for the host couple, who had gone through SO MUCH work to organize and carry out this event, which was SO MUCH fun to do!

We went to the Blue Moose in East Grand Forks for beverages and snacks afterward. Every team won awards of increasing value the better we placed. Our second-place prize was gift cards to a bottle shop and a craft store. We all agreed that our driving throughout the night was appallingly reckless. I sped, I tailgated in order to persuade more law-abiding citizens to move out of my way, I drove offensively instead of defensively. We saw police cars a couple times, too, but thankfully were not stopped. But we were in a racing spirit with one mission in mind: to win this amazing race! It was so fun, though, that I'm sure we'd all agree that we ALL won.