So much fun, perfect kick off to our spring break this year.
About a week prior, I had been searching for 1/2 marathons close to the Smokies, and I landed on a page listing upcoming events in that area. Sure enough, there it was: The Great Smoky Mountains Scavenger Hunt. It sounded like a perfect day of exploring one of my favorite places with my favorite people, and it was.
Here's the deal: You pay $50 to sign up your team (it's a fundraiser), but it's totally worth it. #1: so much fun. #2: they feed you dinner at the end. For our family of seven that's a bargain. #3: they also have some pretty sweet door prizes. I think we won over $50 worth of stuff after we ate. Win-win-win.
Thirty-two teams participated this year. At 3:30pm on Friday afternoon, they email you the clues, seventy-three of them. You then have until 4:30 Saturday afternoon to get as many points as you can by answering questions (things like "how many steps up to the old wonderland hotel?"), and taking specific pictures (like "a human pyramid in front of the Roosevelt memorial"). All of these things lead you all over the park, I loved that. When we visit the Smokies we tend to just go to the spot we're going, do what we planned to do, then go back home. We never stay awhile and wander around. Just explore for exploring's sake beyond our planned hike/swim/etc. So we got to visit places we'd never been before, and really get a feel for the layout of the whole thing. I loved it. Have I mentioned that already?
The kids loved it too. We could tell because the whole day they kept talking next year. When we do it next year, let's start Friday night instead of Saturday morning! Next year, let's get up early. Let's stay here overnight.
Lydia got a camera for Christmas last year and was given the honor of being our official team photographer for all of our hunt pictures. Of course, we took many others as well.
