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Treasure Hunt
Jan. 29th, 2008 10:26 amEvery 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.
( Read more... )
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.
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.
( Read more... )
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.
