Dear Julia,

Today was our Ravenchase Adventure. It's a scavenger hunt and they do it in different areas, but mostly Norfolk and Richmond. I think they have one in Charlotte too.

It starts out with them emailing you a clue. It's a real poem and then another poem that's the clue. You solve the clue by using the real poem. You email them to let them know if you got it, and they will respond to you and let you know if you are right.

The first clue tells you where to meet. Then you meet there at the appointed time and size up your competition. The chase leaders (or whoever they're called) give you your "toolkit" and a scroll with 4 clues and a map. The 4 clues are riddles and puzzles that you have to decipher. Anagrams and codes are used frequently. There's no order to the clues, so it doesn't matter where you find them. You just have to figure out all 4.

The clues will also lead you to other clues. And usually they are buried.

The other teams are doing the same things you are, but there's no telling what order they're going in. But we would see other teams while we were searching and would often figure out where things are based on things the other team would do.

There is a LOT of walking. I got so much exercise today that I crammed myself full of food and beverage when we got to the end. Mmmmmmm, nachos.

There were about 20 people out there. We were all geeks. :)

There was one lone girl who needed a group to team up with, so we let her come with us. That made for even more fun, having a total stranger in our group. Plus, she was black so that led to numerous really interesting racial conversations. She had her moments, but I really bonded with her and had fun hanging out with her today. But, since I tend to get too attached to people early on, I'm trying to dial it down.

The other people in our team were Scott (of course), Travis and Rocky. Rocky drove the Mystery Machine -- so we had the internet and GPS and beverages AND a bathroom!! We were SET. (I won the award for most uses of the bathroom, but I was SUPER cold and have a tiny bladder.)

Sometimes, the chase has actors that get involved. You're never sure who they are. On our first clue search, I saw guy sitting off by himself in an area that seemed weird for him to be off by himself. He had a bag and I thought he was eating lunch -- or pretended. So, I went up to him to try to flirt him in to giving us tips. Asking if he knew about the Raven or what we were looking for. He had NO idea, or said he didn't. I walked a little closer to talk to him and I realized that he wasn't eating dinner. He was listening to music and a had two or three dirty magazines out with him. Oh My. I was SO mortified. Wow. I was all "you're looking at dirty magazines!!" And he was all, "they're just another type of art."

Man, I got away from that area quickly. Our new friend told him that she wouldn't get involved in him because a LADY never takes out trash! :0)

We followed one team or they followed us for a little while. We kept running in to them, but we wound up finishing before they did. Which made me feel a little bad, but not much.

Anyways, Julia. It was lots of fun! I didn't really contribute much on the solving end, but I really had fun following the group around and looking for the clues. I came really close many times but still never quite found any. Still, it was fun. I really want to do it again.

later --

HPL

PS -- If I get any pictures from the group, I'll post them here for you.