Scavenger Hunt for the Win!

Friday I took the Cousin Crew on an adventure and, not to brag, I knocked it out of the park. The adventure was both inexpensive and simple to plan, but I have learned that it doesn't cost a lot of money to have fun and to create memories that will last a lifetime. I bought a Groupon for a scavenger hunt through the City of Harrisburg, and my goodness did we have a good time.

Because the adventure was going to involve a lot of walking through the city, my Mom offered to take Timmy to the pool for the day. Although he was missed, I know that the decision to exclude him from the activity was correct. Timmy would have been bored and his being with us would have been all-consuming. He had a great time swimming through the afternoon with my Mom, so in his mind, he didn't miss a thing.

The scavenger hunt was an absolute blast. Using a dedicated app and relying upon our cyber guide for support, the kids and I ran through the city searching and snapping photos of the required items. The clues were all provided in the form of a riddle, which was fun for all of the kids to decipher.  

When reading about the scavenger hunt I learned that bonus points were provided if the photos of the sought items were silly in nature, so my Mom helped me assemble a small bag of props. With the motivation of extra points to push us higher on the leaderboard, the kids were all in on being as silly as possible. With their inhibitions checked, the Cousin Crew had an amazing adventure through the city.

The memories are countless, but my favorite involved finding a photo of a clock. We deciphered the clue while in the State Capitol building, and my niece ran to the help desk to ask about the location of a clock. (Because we had been scouring the building for several clues already, the help desk already knew we were in a competition.) The guide couldn't remember where we could find a clock, but somebody wearing business attire overheard our conversation. Without missing a beat, she said "follow me to the clock."  

We were taken into a back elevator and a keycard was swiped to take us to another floor. We exited and the hustle and bustle of the rotunda were replaced with an ominous silence. We were escorted into the Governor's Office and shown a beautiful clock. In the corner of the grand office, the kids silently grabbed their props and I snapped the photo in front of the clock. 

The lady who escorted us to the Governor's clock was not an isolated incident on our hunt. Everybody whom we approached and asked for assistance was quick to help. It was refreshing to see so many strangers willing to take time out of their day to help a bunch of kids whom they didn't know.  

Because the kids completed the bonus tasks, which included doing yoga in the middle of a park or pretending that you were a supermodel on the street, we finished the scavenger hunt at the top of the leaderboard. Competing against 271 other teams, the Cousin Crew finished first! We had so much fun on the scavenger hunt, this adventure is going to be hard to beat.