St. Patty's Scavenger Hunt!

 

With the warm weather making an appearance this beautiful month of March and the arrival of Daylight Savings Time I was inspired to do something special.  Using Saint Patrick’s Day as an excuse, I planned a series of clues that would lead Jon all over our end of town, through the woods, and finally to a picnic I had set up.  I thought it was time to make things a little more interesting because even in the 3 months we have been married, we seem to slip into a boring routine very easily.

The clues were simple, but included things we like or had seen together. 

The first led him to a graduation gift I had given him.  It was a rather creative gift, I would like to think.  It was a map of Virginia that I had marked all of the places we had been together on various dates and family vacations.  I burned the edges to make it look “vintage” and gave him a map legend so he could see where we’ve been. 

I hid the second clue at my favorite store, Dollar Tree.  They sell these maple leaf cookies that are delicious!  Who knew maple flavored cookies tasted so great!

The third was tricky.  Originally I had it leading him to the Bloom grocery store across the shopping center form Dollar Tree to find Inca Kola, a bubble gum flavored soda we both love that we had in Peru.  Bloom must be the ONLY grocery store up here that does not have it.  So instead, I told him to grab some sparkling lemonade.

The clue hidden on the shelf with the lemonade told him to go to the tee-pee.  This was a tee-pee we found while on a walk in the woods behind our house. It was, no doubt, built by some kids using sticks and leaves and...a trampoline?  As I trekked through the woods to get to it, I saw a red fox scurrying around.  Pretty darn cool.

That clue was not the end, however!  The next one was a challenge. I wanted to get him to the power line trails for our picnic, but since they are big and he would have to continue through the woods to the location, I gave him specific coordinates with instructions to use his “fancy phone” to find it.

Once there, he was able to spot the picnic I had set up.  We ate Philly Cheese Steaks, fruit salad, and sparkling lemonade.  It Is so pretty and peaceful out on the trails.

I must say, as I sat there on the trails by myself waiting for him (with a book and magazine in hand), I had a flood of doubt as to whether it would all work out.  I kept thinking, what if someone took my clues off the shelf, what if his phone doesn't do coordinates, what it someone not nice finds me out there, what if the fox I saw in the woods gets super hungry...

But it all worked out and made for a lovely St. Patrick's Day picnic.