Treasure Hunt

[naomikritzer]

Every January, the city of St. Paul holds a winter carnival, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press runs a citywide treasure hunt. They hide the Winter Carnival medallion -- a plastic disk that looks like a hockey puck -- on public land somewhere in Ramsey County. Then they publish clues each day for twelve days in the newspaper so that people know where to go look for it. The prize is substantial -- $10,000 -- though once again we would be unable to claim the whole $10K if we found it, since I didn't buy a Winter Carnival button in time. (You have to buy it and register it by a certain date, to prevent people from running out to buy a button as soon as they find the medallion.)

Last year, the medallion was actually found after only three clues, so the newspaper hid another one and offered a second-place prize ($5,000). Molly is fascinated by codes, clues, mysteries, and buried treasure, but it wasn't until fairly late in the second round of the hunt that I thought to tell her about it. She was thrilled by the idea of hunting for treasure, so we spent an afternoon tromping around Central Park in Roseville with a shovel and rake.

This year, we got started a lot earlier, which meant that I got thoroughly sucked in to an aspect of the hunt I missed last year -- the part where you obsess over the cryptic clues.



Molly had Friday off from school -- it was a record-keeping day, one of the random days that Minneapolis kids get off so that their teachers can finish up quarterly grading. Six clues had come out by then. There's a blog that analyzes the clues and the guy was absolutely certain, at that point, that the medallion was at Como Park. My parents live right by Como Park, so I called my parents, left Kiera to hang out with them, and then Molly and I walked down to the lake and spent about a half hour poking into crevices between rocks. Friday was pretty cold, so Molly didn't last long; we walked back up to the house to warm up.

Saturday was much nicer, and in the afternoon, Molly picked treasure hunting over Scrabble, so I took Molly out again. The Saturday clue, #7, read like this:

If you should go look high then low
One could see it from a bower
If it's your bent you might seek a tent
To protect in case of shower

Take note of the wood and do what you should
To extract the prize for yourself
Build a bridge to your dreams as high as they seem
Leave nothing behind on the shelf

There had been a previous clue that said "much was built in the name of the kilt." That plus the "high" (twice!) made me decide that the guy analyzing the clues was on the wrong track -- it wasn't at Como, it was in Highland Park. Highland also has a bridge over Monreal Ave. One of the first clues reminded people that the golf course was "out of play," which made everyone figure it had to be at a park with a golf course. (Golf courses are always out of play -- it's in the rules.) Highland has not only a golf course but a frisbee golf course, as Ed noted. Tents, though -- tents? Huh.

Molly and I drove over, and as we were looking for a parking spot, I noticed a funny-looking building next door to the Highland Park swimming pool. It was Circus Juventas, an organization that offers classes in circus arts to kids and adults. Their building is called the "big top" and is built to look like a tent. I started yelling, "That's it! That's it! IT'S THE TENT!" while Molly said "huh? what? ohh...okay..." in the back seat.

We parked and spent several hours tromping around Highland, looking for shelves or books ("all ye who look should honor the book/as one who stood for hope" was back in an earlier clue) or hollow trees (Ed suggested that "look high then low" might imply that you needed to reach into something high, and then put your arm down low to get at it, which also fit with the "extract the prize" line). No luck. We saw lots of other people out hunting, and the weather was perfect -- high twenties or low thirties, which felt nearly tropical after our days and days of subzero windchills. So even though we didn't find anything, it was a pretty nice day.

Sunday was even nicer, so we went out looking again -- this time with Ed and Kiera, and another clue.

Look at the buck to acquire good luck
In finding the grail this year
Link a jar, a line, a star lawyer divine
While crying in your beer

He won, then lost and the nation was tossed
Into strife that was far from civil
The point I'm making is yours for the taking
Believe me - not the message board drivel

There had been some message-board chatter (did I mention I've been really obsessed with this, this year?) speculating that maybe the clues were extra-cryptic because it's actually at a small park, and once people knew the park they'd turn up the medallion almost immediately. I liked this theory, so Ed and I pulled up MapQuest to see what we could get if we linked a Masonic Lodge (a jar!), the Burlington-Northern Railroad (a line!) and the University of St. Thomas or the College of St. Catherine (a star lawyer divine) in a triangle. One of those triangles fit neatly around Merriam Park, a tiny little park tucked up against the edge of I-94. We decided we'd go check it out. As we were getting ready, Ed yelled, "Hey! Honor the book! Maybe it's a dictionary you're supposed to be honoring!" Which made sense to me -- hey, the clue-writer is a writer, and writers are a lot more likely to honor Merriam-Webster's than, say, the Bible, which lots of people immediately thought of.

Merriam Park turned out to have a truly excellent sledding hill, so when the kids got tired of looking for a medallion, we got out the sleds. But... as we were checking out the trees near the top of the sledding hill, we spotted something sticking out of the hollow of one of them. It was the handle of a tool of some sort. We couldn't tell what.

We tried the small rake we'd brought along, but couldn't get it out. I tried tying a screwdriver to the end of a telescoping windshield scraper/brush, but still no luck -- we needed duct tape for that to work. We needed something with a longer handle or a narrower point (the point I'm making, oh my gosh, maybe this really IS it...) After exhausting our tool options, I left Ed and the girls sledding and drove home to get duct tape and some other items. That let us get a good grip on the end of whatever the heck was stuck in there (there was a little hole in the end of the handl), but it still wouldn't come out. It wasn't frozen in, because you could wiggle it all over, but it was jammed inside. The only way to get it out, we concluded, would be to get a ladder, climb up, grab the handle, and yank.

If we'd known FOR SURE that there was a medallion in there, we'd probably have done it, but neither Ed nor I is a huge fan of ladders, as a general rule. Especially when you're going to be resting them on slippery, uneven ground. So we went home. With the sledding and the beautiful weather, it had been a lovely afternoon, even without the medallion.

But, I sent e-mail to seanmmurphy, who even had a registered button, and let him know about it. Just in case, you know. He went over, succeeded in climbing the tree, and yanked out the tool. He called me up when he got home to let me know that I was absolutely right that it would be a FABULOUS hiding place for the medallion, but no, the tool was just something that another medallion hunter had been using to try to dig down into the hollow tree.

On Monday, Molly was back in school, but I was thinking about whether maybe we should go use the last day of warmer weather to dig in the afternoon. Any temptation to try for it went out the window when my cell phone rang at noon. It was a school staff person, calling from the Health Office. Molly had thrown up at school. I spent the rest of the day making Jell-O and reading her Little House on the Prairie (she will not read these books to herself -- they are reserved for sick days, when she wants them read to her, the only time she asks to be read to anymore). And mulling over clue #9:

This name brings tears, elation and cheers
And occasionally even outrages
It sits on walls and rides the halls
And fills a dozen pages

The hills are alive and you'll have arrived
Refrain from the very injurious
Be bold and be brave but your skin you must save
What's off-limits should frankly be obvious

The clue analyst who thought earlier it was at Como was convinced now that it was at Swede Hollow, and looking at my map of St. Paul, I thought he was probably right. There's a "Maury" street right by Swede Hollow (Maury Povich's name brings tears, elation, cheers, outrages). There's also a "Maria" street (the hills are alive) and a "Payne" street (refrain from the very injurious). The park apparently has a bunch of cliffs (it should be obvious those are off-limits). There were some other clues that fit. Although, I'm not sure if it's clear from following my obsessive thought process here, but you could choose any park in Ramsey County and get the clues to fit it. If we'd searched yesterday, we'd probably have gone to Swede Hollow, although Ed reiterated last night that he still thought it was at Highland, and the "Hills are Alive" reference had something to do with Montreal Ave (there was some line earlier about the "royal" thing you were looking for) and if the off-limits thing should be obvious, that means that the golf course should be in plain view, which it is from many spots in Highland Park.

I stayed up late enough last night to see the new clue. (They make it available at the Pioneer Press building at about 11:30 at night. People line up to see it and then call their friends at the parks by cell to let them know where to go look -- I'm not anywhere near obsessed relative to some people's standards.)

Look for the sight you hope is just right
You're doubtful and you're torn
Make the rounds for what rhymes with grounds
And part of a rose with a horn

Through flames and flow this park where you'll go
Is the site of sacred relics
Stay away from these and the cliffs if you please
Or you'll be in a heckuva fix

Well. "Rhymes with grounds" and "site of sacred relics" is pretty clear, as it happens: Indian Mounds Park. It also has cliffs, which apparently you should stay off, and a Thorn Ave leading into the park.

Molly is still home today, and feeling much better (school policy requires 24 vomit-free hours before a kid can come back) but I think we will stick with Scrabble for entertainment, especially as (a) it's really cold again and (b) Kiera is also home sick now. I just called the Medallion Hotline (yes! they have a hotline! 651-228-5547) and no one's found it yet, though, so if any of my local readers are so inclined... go look at Indian Mounds.



The theoretical purpose of the St. Paul Winter Carnival is to pry people out of their houses to enjoy some winter weather. And I have to say, the Medallion Hunt really worked for us this year.

NEXT year, I SWEAR, we will buy the darn button early enough to register it.

Comments

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

That's a really great idea for getting people out in the middle of winter. I applaud it.

[malachitefer.livejournal.com]

Bingo. It was found in Indian Mounds Park a little after midnight. Not a night I'd spend tromping around outside, the whole medallion hunt is evidence that they make 'em crazy here...

[naomikritzer]

I heard that on the radio this morning. Anyone who would go out last night to tromp around in the dark hunting for a puck-sized chunk of plastic hidden in a park deserves the $10,000. Or else better access to psychotherapy and pharmaceuticals...