Double Dare Ya

So today was Urban Dare Day! Molly came down from Austin and we took on 53 other teams who were ready for the scavenger hunt type event in Downtown San Antonio.

This is the sheet below we were given at high noon, when the race began. I knew we were in trouble when a guy walked past us before the start, with one of those bluetooth phones in his ear, and said, "So how many clue finders do we have online and ready to go?"

Well, we had three for us... my Dad, Ryan (my brother), and Jeremy. It was great...Ryan tried really hard not to laugh when he told us we had to go to the corner of South Flores and Chihuahua Street for one of the clues....well, we are in San Antonio folks!
See, they give you the list of 11 clues to find, and then you can either
1) Solve them by yourself
2) Phone a friend
3) Sneakily follow other groups and hope they know where they are going!

Yup, we phoned a friend, and in about 15-20 minutes knew where all 11 locations were...it was now just a race against time to get there on foot and complete the challenges!

After Molly and I were all done with the race we came back here and mapped out our route just to see how far we ran and if we could have done it more efficiently any other way. Our total route distance was 6.3 miles!!

Here are some of the photos that we had to take along the way....

Question 1: We all know where the Tower of the America's is, but can you find the Fiesta Tower? Get your picture with it. ---- so we ran off to the central library for this one!
Question 2: Go to the park across from the Spirit of Healing mural for your 3 legged dare ---- so we ran off to the Christa Santa Rosa Hospital and then had to run about 1/4 mile tethered together....and I'd like to add that we ran it without totally wiping each other out! =)

Oh yes, this is what you think it is...a human pyramid! Molly got this family to do this for us for a bonus 5 minutes off our final time! She is that good...and there was a little miscommunication about them thinking they were on that show "Amazing Race" and that this would get them on TV...but we just went with it! =)

Question 4: He once said, "Ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made." Get your picture with his memorial. ---- So we ran to City Hall and got our picture with FDR!
Question 6: When they first began building this ship, she was going to be the light cruiser USS Newark. Before she launched she was converted to an Independence class small aircraft carrier and launched in 1943. Former president George Bush once service on her. Get your picture with her bell. (This one threw Jeremy, our clue hunter, off track, but he called back later, after switching from Google to Bing, and he found it!) --- We headed to the Bexar County Courthouse for this one!
Question 8: Go to the plaque that marks where Carl Gunther's upper mill once stood for your beanbag dare. -- so we ran to the King William district for this one -- and it was here that we saw one team jump out of a waiting cab! Sneaky, very sneaky!
Question 11: Get your picture with the sculpture La Puerta, which was a gift from Monterrey Mexico. -- So we ran off to Hemisphere park to find this one. Though we did have to call my dad a few times to get a better description of what we were looking for....he kept saying, "I don't know, it just looks like a little door!!"
Question 5: He was a founder of and the first president of the American Federation of Labor. Go to his statue for your wheelbarrow dare. --- So we ran to the front of the Convention Center to see Samuel Gomper's statue and do our challenge -- and yes, there were tourists taking pictures of us while we did this!
Question 9: This first lady was known for fostering the program to plant wildflowers along highways and to limit billboards. Get your picture with her fountain. --- and my dad yells out on the phone "Lady Bird Johnson!" -- Great dad, now we just have to find her fountain! -- so we were headed to the street right next to the Alamo for this one!
And finally...drum roll people! We ran back to the start just in time to see them taking photos of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams. We finished in 7th place!!! With a time of 2 hours and 14 minutes!

Thanks to our clue finders and our amazing navigating skills! Next time you are lost somewhere you know who to call!
Just for fun...the winning team finished at 1 hour 9 minutes...we're pretty sure they must have cheated and taken cabs or have super human flying abilities!