“Want to join the Blue Barracudas during the 2012 Cleveland Nation Urban Scavenger Hunt” Sister Caroline said via telephone….

“Ummmm Yes.” I said without skipping a beat,

And just like that our $20 Groupons were purchased to this June 16 event……Off to Google to find out more….

To place in this race, each team would be required to complete 11 of 12 clues which would be sporadically strewn around the streets of downtown Cleveland…. teams would have to search via foot or public transit over the approximate 3 mile trek (No bikes, no cars, no hover boards) …and lastly, full interactive team-member photo ops would be required at each of the chosen spots… *Team costumes would receive added kudos and admiration from all…..

“Wow, this is going to be phenomenal,” I said to myself….. Off to Twitter I went to spread the good word… 

Game Day:

As we arrived for registration at the Barley House the crowd was vast….Despite the approx 90 Degree day, Cleveland Nation had brought an estimated 750 people downtown for an afternoon of brain-busting, body-moving, sweat-dripping competition.

Our competition was fierce…  

But the Blue Barracudas were up for the challenge…

We strapped on helmets, pulled up our elbow pads, plastered on our tattoos and waited for that whistle….                                                                                                                        

And just like that we were off….. a single piece of paper containing 12 challenges in our hands… 

Some challenges were easy…

“Take a photo with any one of the following: A live horse, a Segway transporter or shaking hands with a dog…”

Some challenges were hard….

“Actively used by its famous owner by two decades, all the way until a few months before his death in 2003, this now sits in a spot that defines “Rock star Parking.”  

Answer: The Johnny Cash tour bus on temporary display at the Rock Hall… Johnny Cash… I thought we were looking for a famous Clevelander dead in 2003, misleading….  

But some Challenges were just right: 

Why… who knew that the contestants themselves were part of the challenge. An alphabet phone number displayed on our race numbers… How fun is that…. 

So how did we do….Despite a slow and steady wins the race strategy… (*ie… I am not running in 90 Degree weather) we didn’t take the gold… but we did came in 106th place during this scavenger race!