Over the weekend, Walk-O-Rama members ventured back to NYC to embark on yet another scavenger hunt. Having failed the last hunt we attempted in fantastic fashion, we thought we would build our confidence back up by registering for the kind of hunt we knew we could win – one that involved eating. And so we set out to conquer Chinatown and Little Italy, by racing through their streets and eating as much food as we could find. It was delicious.
Ice cream for lunch? Sure, why not!
At first, the riddles were a bit of a challenge, as we were still groggy from the long commute and some were famished from skipping breakfast. But soon our competitive spirits kicked in (or perhaps it was the newly acquired sugar and calories) and after a few quickly found answers to clever clues, we were off and running. And munching. At the first stop, we marveled at the cheap prices of some scrumptious pastries, and Kristen kicked herself for not bringing a larger bag to fill with super cheap sesame buns that were scored for under a buck. But there was more great food to be tasted and we could not be bogged down at the first stop with too many bags of leftovers.
Chris joined our group this time around as our new John, and we were happy with this arrangement because he knew Chinatown like the back of his hand, which was soon dripping with Zen Butter ice cream that none of us seemed able to eat fast enough. To cut the sweetness from our first two dessert shops, we stopped in and got some pastries with eggs – you know, for some protein.
The ice cream that was soon all over our faces, hands, and clue sheets.
This would be categorized as dessert, were it not for the protein packed egg. Thanks, egg!
Some clues that did not involve eating were particularly tedious. We looked all over to find some dude eating a bitter apple. As we threw our hands up in the air in defeat, the answer revealed itself to us in the form of a serpent, who tempted us to leave this destination to go eat more food to obtain all-knowing scavenger hunt knowledge. And so we did.
Finally, it seemed we were given a “real food” option, so soup and noodles were eagerly ordered by members of our group. After receiving their heaping bucket-o-goodness, we realized that no, those were not recommended options after all. Curses.
Nice try, guys. Soup was not a point-earning option. But those dumplings were!
Ken quickly tries to hide the evidence of this falsely purchased container of soup. Chug! Chug!
As a dessert to follow up our dessert-fest, we made a few more stops to get some additional items on our list: cannolis and some funky candy.
…and the cannoli queen
Taken moments before members of our team literally exploded into heaps of processed sugar from eating an excess of it
A lack of time left us literally sprinting to the finish line, where our team awaited our fate. We stopped to enjoy some fine Chinese karaoke in the park while waiting for our competition to complete the event.
Microphones – don’t leave home without them!
Soon, the man in the nice red hat invited us all to converge so he could declare the winner. He boosted the competition’s egos by complimenting their witty name choices and whatnot, but let’s face it, we all knew who the winners would be. We may lose thinking hunts 100% of the time, by very embarrassing margins, but we are unstoppable when it comes to races to find and consume delicious food! Needless to say, our confidence returned and is now overly inflated and all ready to be crushed next time we try a thinking hunt, which could be in November. Join us then!
Woohoo…there will be more hunting in our future!
Walk-O-Rama 