Category: Just for fun

Murder?! At the Mount Hope Estate!

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I have been remiss, dear reader, in neglecting to tell the dastardly tale of the real beginning of my sister dates. Yes, technically, we did do the chocolate walk in October a few months before the night of the ‘incident”, but it was that very night that the idea itself took off and we determined to make it a monthly outing. 

It began of course with an invitation to dinner at the Mount Hope Estate, which the original mansion being built in early 1800’s and later additions in the late 1800’s makes it a unique blend of Federalist and Victorian styles. How apropos when considering the events of the night. At first, my sister lamented being unable to attend without a second guest, what would people say to show up to an event sans escort, but to go with a different gentleman would be quite out of the question for a married woman, such as herself. It of course fell to her sister to chaperone, or rather she could use the excuse to chaperone me her unmarried sister for a bit of fun together.  

Now any true society dinner begins with the mingling of the guests to share juicy gossip and tales of one another. Our hosts that night were no different, slipping tantalizing details of the other guests. And such scheming amongst each other as I never did before see. Perhaps, my friends are above such petty squabbles, or perhaps they are simply better at disguising their nefarious ways. Either way, keep your secrets to yourself lest you become the subject of such gossip! 

Having thoroughly enjoyed mingling, slowly sipping on wine and engorged ourselves on the latest potential scandals, we were called to be seated four our four course meal. The food was as delightful as the entertainment! A feast for both the eyes and the mouth! My sister and I compared notes from our careful study of the key players for the night. We sensed a plot afoot and we would not be caught out unawares. 

Well, we certainly were right in our suspicions for shortly after dinner, came the cries of murder! But who had done it and why? My sister and I only needed to give one another a short nod before jumping into the adventure to help solve the mystery! Naturally, we had to launch an investigation of our own, questioning the key players and making careful observations of the crime scene. Having made our careful inquiries we were certain we knew the culprit! Alas, we were fooled! ‘Tis a good thing, she and I were not official investigators or else an innocent would be locked up and the foul murderer would have escaped! 

As it turns out, the play rotates who “done it” so that even if friends share the experience with one another or social media, the night is not entirely spoiled ahead of time. A clever idea on the part of the organizers of the play. Our play was set in the 1940’s, so I donned an outfit to reflect the late 30’s/early 40’s to really help me “get into it”. It really is up to you how much to “lean into” the character of the night. 

I’ve done other dinner plays where the play happens around you as part of the process of dinner. While they were enjoyable, the added element of being able to get up to interact with the players as if you were actually part of the story was what elevated the whole experience. Additionally, the backdrop of a murder mystery in the midst of a Victorian mansion was an added bonus, few places can boast of. The mansion is not located among the bustling cities, but rather out in the countryside, surrounded by the fields of grapes for the winery which only added to the more gothic elements of the mystery. And did I mention the food? Mount Hope outdid itself with the food. That alone was worth the ticket price!  

So how can you find a murder mystery dinner?

I would suggest starting with google or facebook events to see what places in your area may periodically host one. If you have more than one option then, consider other “enhancements” to the experience. Do you have the option for a gothic Victorian mansion like myself? I certainly recommend thinking through the setting of your play. Is there a time of year that more suits you for mystery and fun, like in October or in the darkness of winter? You can also often see hints of the plot and setting that might strike your fancy more than another. 

I certainly encourage you to dress up a little, take on a “part” yourself and have a bit of fun with it. Obviously, don’t be an obnoxious audience member and try to be part of the play itself. Don’t go in stealing all the attention and confusing the other audience members who can’t tell if  you’re supposed to be part of the theater trope or not. However, a little more immersion can make your evening more magical.

Completed: March 2017

Miles from home: 11 

Cost: $60 per person  

Dance Like No One’s Watching: Dancing to Street Musicians

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Maybe it was the music itself that enticed me. Perhaps, it was the wine at dinner. Or maybe it was the allure of Italy itself that wound itself around my legs and compelled me to dance. All I knew was the night was still young as the sky was turning to twilight and the saxophone drew me towards it. What else could I do, but begin to sway and dance to its siren call? As I twirled and danced upon cobblestones, I caught glimpses of the musicians smiling as they played, keeping the song going as I was caught up in its magic spell. My skirt swished gently about my legs, my arms flowed of their own accord. I can still almost hum the low, almost slow almost sensual tune, though in truth it plays along the boundaries of memory, faded with time and unfamiliarity. 

To be young and uninhibited again, unbound by the constraints of societal expectations and propriety. To simply find yourself in a place where the music is playing and the urge to dance takes hold. It is not very often one stumbles upon street musicians unless one is in a city, such as Rome, but one must take advantage of such moments. It is one of my favorite memories from my semester abroad because I danced as if I were alone, unconcerned about the crowd or who might be watching. I let myself live freely in the moment, embracing the serendipity of music at twilight. 

As it so happens, not only did I delight those playing by my ample appreciation of the music, but also of a nearby photographer. He happened to catch me dancing and was inspired by my boldness. For a short time afterward, I was his muse with a short and impromptu photoshoot in the plaza before the Great Colosseum itself! I unfortunately only have the pictures which were sent on to me and lost the gentleman’s name. But I will forever be grateful for the phenomenal memories he helped preserve. Perhaps, this blog post will find him and I will be able to give him proper credit.

It was not my first foray into impromptu dancing, for I also danced at the spring festival in Marburg in the rain, again much to the delight of the musicians. I may have said only moments ago, “to be young and uninhibited again”, but the truth is, I still am! Uninhibited that is – I’m almost 40, one has to embrace middle age gracefully and not cling to youth in some sort of grotesque fashion. One should not stop dancing to street performers just because one is no longer in one’s 20’s! One should not stop embracing moments of joyful abandon. Is there a song to sing at karaoke? Belt it out! Did you stumble across a public art project inviting you to paint? Join in! Be spontaneous! Embrace your impulses and passions! Be silly! Don’t be afraid to look foolish! Had I not been fearless to dance in the middle of public, it would not have led to a photoshoot in the middle of Rome! How many people can say that of their journeys? Not many? Exactly! Fortune favors the bold after all! 

Now dear reader, you may be wondering why this would grace a bucket list as it seems like rather a small thing. Really, dancing on the street of all things to a “lowly” street performer? What sort of standards do you have for your bucket list, you may ask. 

First, it’s my blog and I’ll blog what I want to. My list, my rules. You go make your own list with your own rules. 

Second, consider how few people would actually be bold or brave enough to do this? How many of them hold back? Does it even occur to them to dance? Or have they been so conditioned against any sort of unauthorized or predesignated fun that they don’t even think to dance? Have you, dear reader, ever acted with such impulsive abandon? For me this was about living without fear or anyone’s judgements. A life well lived includes doing things off the beaten path, allowing your passions and impulses to occasionally run riot. I love music and I love dancing, why should I deny the urge to embrace life when it so fervently invites me to its arms? 

Besides, when you do embrace life not only do you bring delight to yourself, but also you bring joy to other people. In my hometown, there is a young man who frequently goes out dressed as a templar knight. His reasons are his own, but he started to become a bit of a celebrity. People are posting sightings of him. They’re excited to see him. It brings us joy. I love that there’s someone out there just living his best life as a templar knight! There’s another town in Canada where a man walks around with a giant carrot and people LOVE it. There’s stories of people passing out flower crowns or leaving chalk art on the sidewalk of their neighbors to bring them joy. The world needs our whimsy dear reader! 

Sidenote: Before doing chalk art, check your local ordinances as in some towns this may be illegal – some places really have outlawed fun! 

All of these are stories of people doing something a little impulsive and making the world a better, more magical place because of it. The third reason is that it made my trip to Rome that much more memorable. Consider how many travel stories seem to consist of the same things, especially such destinations as Rome. Don’t get me wrong there is a reason people go to the same places and see the same things, it would be silly to go to Rome as a tourist and eschew the Colosseum as plebeian because everyone goes to Rome to see it. But this punctuated my week-long trip with a truly memorable experience, it made the Colosseum special to me. When I think about the Colosseum, I think about dancing! I strain to recall that haunting tune. For a moment, I am back there. If we don’t authentically express ourselves out in the world, what are we even doing? Are we really deeply experiencing life or just pretending to?  

How can you dance like no one’s watching?

If you are interested in replicating the magic of impromptu dancing, the best way is to use your ears. Pay attention to your surroundings. Obviously if you visit a city, you are much more likely to encounter the stray musician. Be sure to pack along a few dollars to show your appreciation if you are intending on seeking out someone to dance to. However, I will admonish you to not seek this out specifically. After all, half the fun is stumbling about it naturally to let the music extend its hand with a flirtatious invitation to join it. Then by all means accept the invitation, let it embrace you in its arms and let go. 

The principle of course is to be open to serendipity and to take advantage of the opportunities that arise. When a creative opportunity presents itself, meet it head on, boldly and passionately. Dive in with careless abandon. After all, a life well lived is one with passion and risk. Not every boldly taken action will end well. You may be booed off stage of the open mic comedy club. You may be told afterward you sang worse than a braying donkey. But that’s okay! In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “It is not the critic who counts….The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” Do not content yourself with sitting on the sidelines dear reader! Enter the arena of life and dance as if no one was watching! 

Completed: Spring 2009 

Miles from home: 4,371 (though this can be completed almost anywhere) 

Cost: Serendipity is free

Falling into Autumn: Appreciating the Changing Seasons

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I love fall, the cooler days after the scorching heat of summer, the changing leaves, the cozy sweaters and warm drinks. I love the stormy days and misty mornings. I love the way the world seems to nestle down for the coming winter. 

One might wonder at something as mundane as a seasonal change being included on a bucket list. But then, dear reader, if you’ve read my other posts here then you already know my answer. If you have not, the answer is simple, because one ought to embrace the joy of living where one is at. One ought to remember that wherever one is, someone somewhere elsewhere dreams about the very place you find yourself. Think of all the millions of people who never get to experience the wonder of fall! Consider all the people who never get to see the leaves of their trees turn to brillant shades of yellow, orange and red. Throughout the tropical regions of the world, there are people who dream of witnessing the changing seasons, who find the vibrant colors of fall as enchanting as a tropical beach. There are even people in the United States who have never really experienced all four seasons as we do in the northern parts. 

When was the last time you joyfully walked through them, crunching gleefully as you marched through them? Perhaps, you were a young child and no longer given over to such frivolous and silly things. I implore you dear reader, abandon your adult self with all its imposed rules of oughts and shoulds. Indeed embrace the fall with a child-like enthusiasm and wonder. See the season with the eyes of someone who has never seen this particular form of natural magic. 

It was with this sort of attitude, that on my birthday I embarked to a nearby nature preserve to drink in the pleasure of the late fall. Trees typically peak about a week or two before my birthday meaning that there are often more leaves on the ground than in the trees and the forest isn’t quite as majestically dressed. The air is also usually a bit chillier requiring extra layers. That day I donned a hat, a warm caplet and fingerless gloves which would keep my fingers free for the task at hand. 

I took a few moments to simply breathe in the crisp morning air savoring the flavor of the forest on the cusp of winter before venturing forth onto the path. I listened carefully to the sounds of the woods around me, the water gurgling in a nearby stream and the way the leaves rustled underfoot. I then drank in full the sights of the forest enjoying the brilliant color of the trees in their glory. With a child’s enthusiasm, I trounced through the woods at times kicking up the leaves, at other times standing quietly to simply enjoy the sights, smells and sounds. There were few others out on the trail that morning, but mostly I was alone with the forest. 

I could not say just how long I was out there, but I walked quite a ways basking in nature’s glory before making the determination to go back. It was one the way back that I indulged in another child’s game, collecting leaves of various colors and forms. I made a bit of a game with it, sometimes exchanging a leaf that I had already picked up for one on the ground to make sure I did not become over burdened with them. With my collection well in hand, I headed back to my car quite content with my birthday treat to myself, a quiet morning fully immersed in the glory of autumn. It was something so incredibly simple, yet I enjoyed as much as an afternoon at a spa. I try to spend at least one day in the fall to really appreciate the season as if I were one of those tourists who traveled hundreds of miles on a carefully planned trip just to see the leaves. I am frequently amazed by the beauty that my home brings each year.

How to experience the beauty of fall?

If you live in the northern climes, I recommend tracking the peaking of the leaves in your local area and then planning a morning or afternoon out around that time to really enjoy the outdoors. Keep in mind that fall can be a rainy time of year, so being flexible is key. Luckily, it costs almost nothing to get out to the woods and go on a hike. 

There are many other ways to enjoy fall like visiting a pumpkin patch, corn mazes, apple picking and more, but this activity is all about the leaves. You could go a step further and use the leaves for art projects. I used mine just as table decorations for a few days. 

If you don’t live in a place where there is a dramatic shift of the seasons, embrace the cycles of the year wherever you may be. The subtler nature of the changes can be just as rewarding as the dramatic shift. Perhaps, there are certain flowers in bloom in the traditional autumn season that you can stop and appreciate. Appreciate the migration of birds who have come down to your warmer home to escape the coming cold of winter. Paying attention and celebrating nature throughout the year is a rewarding experience. We so often neglect the world around us as uninteresting and miss the magic that is occurring all around us instead looking to other people’s backyards for wonder and inspiration. Find the wonder in your natural environment.

Completed: November 2021

Cost: Free (maybe a few dollars in gas)

Miles from home: 6 miles

The Curious Case of the Gettysburg Ghosts: A Walking Tour of One of the Country’s Most Haunted Cities

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There’s something mysterious about the late fall, when darkness creeps over the earth stealing away precious daylight hours and the earth loses its color. Once familiar trees transform into shadowy forms at twilight, their fingers reaching out to the unwary traveler. The comforting sounds of animals scurrying about take on a more sinister tone and even the wind begins to moan hauntingly. Is it any wonder that such a time of year made many believe that the veil between worlds was thin and gave rise to the spooky season we know and love so well?

It’s a time of year when many travelers flock to the former places of death in hopes of encountering a being from beyond. Certain places are known to be more haunted than others and few other places top Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on the list of most haunted places frequently earning the 3rd or 4th spot. The majority of these restless dead are thought to come from the decisive battle of Gettysburg, one of the deadliest battles in our nation’s history and is considered by many to be the definitive turning point in the civil war. Over 51,000 soldiers perished and many more were injured. 

Being both curious to learn more about the history of Gettysburg and to get ourselves in the spirit of the season, my sister and I embarked on an evening stroll to suspend belief for an hour or two and perhaps, catch a glimpse of a specter. Given the town’s reputation for its hauntings and that it goes all out with Halloween decorations, it is decidedly recommended to arrive early for a walking tour because parking was rather difficult to find as hundreds of spooky enthusiastics milled about also hoping for a ghost sighting. With a little trouble, we made it to the appointed meeting spot which was difficult to spot as it was an unassuming door for the Museum of Haunted Objects.  

Our guide was a jovial man dressed in the manner of an 1860’s gentleman, complete with top hat, lantern and walking cane. He explained that the reason for the number of hauntings was due primarily to the unburied and still restless ghosts of the Confederate Army. He explained that in the aftermath of the battle, the town and surrounding countryside were overwhelmed with the corpses of the dead. The stench lingered for months as they struggled to lay to rest the dead. It seems almost a natural reaction in the face of so many that the dead of one’s enemies were more hastily buried with little honor or respect. Many of the townsfolk wanted to move on from the aftermath of the battle, to forget the horrors from the streams of blood and piles of amputated limbs littering the outside of the former field hospitals. Unfortunately, the dead not properly put to rest lingered on a constant reminder of the horrors of those three days. 

We actually began our tour at a curious place, the local high school where in the course of an expansion several confederate soldiers were uncovered. It was strange to think that hauntings were so common in this area that one may go to school directly next to ghosts especially when reflecting on all the late night music practices I attended. Having set the tone as being a town so haunted ghost sightings are your local high school are hardly something to comment on as out of the ordinary, we set off to learn more directly about the different places and their stories. It also gave credence to the theory that the hauntings were a result of restless Confederate soldiers in need of peace. Because after the discovery of the Confederate soldiers, they were buried properly and the reported hauntings ceased. 

But not all hauntings can be explained by disrespect for the dead. Ms. Jennie Wade was the only civilian to die during the intense fighting – a rather shocking fact when one considers the numbers lost to the fighting. Jennie had come to support her sister Georgia who had just given birth along with her mother and her brother. She was mixing dough for biscuits when a stray bullet passed through two doors before hitting her in the back. Though certainly given a proper burial by her family, it does seem she remained to haunt the home due to unfinished business – she never got married. Unlike many ghost stories, ending in misfortune, it seems that  Ms. Jennie is a generous spirit rather than a malicious one as she is said to help single ladies who visit her home. Just place your finger on the interior door bullet hole and you shall receive a marriage proposal within the year. One does hope that she is able to find rest after granting happiness to so many others.

Graves behind the orphanage

We heard other stories of haunting in the area including the orphanage where the guide told us a rather chilling story of children inviting others to join in a game of ring-around-the-rosie much to the dismay of the adults. Interestingly enough the orphanage itself was not directly connected to the battle but rather its aftermath. With so many lost in the war, many children found themselves without a caregiver which led to the founding of a new orphanage in Gettysburg under Ms. Philinda Humiston. Initially, the orphans were well cared for until a new Headmistress took the reins of power, Ms. Rosa Carmichael. Ms. Rosa is reported to have locked a four year old boy in an outhouse in the bitter cold of December, keeping others in chains, sometimes in vats of water where they risked drowning and beaten them. There were several children who were missing and never found. Visitors to the orphanage are said to hear the clanking of chains and the cries and laughter of children. Some report to have seen the visage of the evil head mistress. It seems a bit macabre to me that people will pay for a chance to interact with the lost children of the orphanage and such a cruel creature. It is not the stories of ghost which haunt, but of the cruelty of people.

However, it was not the stories of ghosts that haunted me (pun intended), but rather the description of the carnage of the field hospitals and the battles. It was not just death which turned this quiet town into a horror show, but also the number of amputations. The guide described how there were so many body parts that they began to simply toss them outside the window of the hospital, piling up limbs, that doctors and nurses waded through blood trying to help the wounded and dying. At one place a group of captive soldiers being held in a basement had blood raining down on them through the floorboards. Whether one believes in ghost stories or not the reality of the battle could not be downplayed. I think in our modern era it’s easy to forget the real horrors of war being so far removed from it as we often are. 

What I found most interesting about the tour was seeing the battle from the perspective of the townsfolk and how it affected them many generations after. It is what still defines the town to this day. When many people were frolicking about in their costumes, giggling at the sightings of ghosts and enjoying a festival atmosphere, one must wonder how we arrived at this point. Almost a hundred and fifty years ago nearly 50,000 people perished in a war to decide the fate of America. The town was washed in the blood of patriots fighting for freedom. Doctors and nurses frantically rushed to save lives, hacking off limb after limb in a desperate attempt to mitigate the damage. After the armies left, it was the townsfolk who were left to pick up the pieces and bury the dead. Perhaps, there is something to be said that an experience so horrific can be transformed into an evening of lighthearted fun, traversing the streets by candlelight as the guide does his best to both educate and scare you. Perhaps, it is an indictment of a culture so indifferent to real human suffering that it seeks to capitalize on it. Perhaps, it is a coping mechanism of a place so scared by the horrors witnessed both in those three days and in the years after, that we can hardly blame them for embracing the kitsch nature of the spooky season to transform it into a more palatable form. 

Regardless, it was an intriguing evening of history and even anthropological musings on the response to collective trauma. Though those musings were from my own internal observations than anything the guide said. I found the guide to be quite informative and an avid storyteller who was quite capable of raising goosebumps as he relayed the tales of the ghosts who stalked the streets at night. 

Our guide looks almost ghostly in this picture!

How can you go on a haunted tour?

There are many towns and cities throughout America that have reported hauntings from Gettysburg, PA to Savannah, Ga, from Salem, MA to Portland, OR, from Chicago, IL to Sante Fe, NM and everywhere in between. My own hometown gives a ghost tour each fall! You can usually find them being advertised from Mid-September through early November. There are places that will offer ghost tours throughout the year. 

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, I certainly recommend them for the history as they often give a different perspective than other walking tours. Often, they showcase the lives of ordinary people like Jennie Wade who only wished to help her sister and had dreams of getting married or they help us remember the victims, like the orphans who suffered at the hands of Ms. Rosa. They can be nights of fun and even frivolity, but at their core, they are stories to remember the darker parts of our collective past, even if they’re presented in more palatable forms. Nevertheless, they are stories worth remembering. 

Completed: October 2021

Cost: $35 each

Miles from home: 63 miles

Sunflower Fields: Turn Towards the Light

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“I don’t think there’s anything on this planet that more trumpets life that the sunflower. For me, that’s because of the reason behind its name. Not because it looks like the sun but because it follows the sun. During the course of the day, the head tracks the journey of the sun across the sky. A satellite dish for sunshine. Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it. And that’s such an admirable thing. And such a lesson in life.” – Tim Firth

I have always loved sunflowers, but after hearing that quote, I adored them. I loved that they followed the light even when the sun was hidden away. No matter how dark their world becomes they turn to the light. Isn’t that just what we humans fail to do so often when our lives become darkened? What a beautiful reminder and how special it is that they do so resemble the sun to give us some of the light they have taken into themselves? 

When one thinks of sunflower fields, one may think of the endless fields of Tuscany and forget to look in one’s own backyard. I will say that sunflower fields have been gaining popularity, at least in my area with farmers now taking time to plant fields for visitors to come and enjoy. Most will allow you to leave with a single memento of your visit. One flower to bring you sunshine. At Second Mountain, you are encouraged to bring as many containers as you can because for just a few dollars, you can pick as many sunflowers as you desire! And I did! 

My mother and I drove up at the very end of the sunflower season to catch the last blooms of the season. We had been carefully awaiting this for almost a year as we had learned of this hidden gem to the north of us from a work colleague shortly after the sunflower season had ended. Unfortunately, peak sunflower season is in August which usually has beastly weather of heat and humidity. Being as my mother is an asthmatic those two are not the greatest combination for her being able to enjoy the great outdoors. Being allergic to bees, it was important for me to avoid warmer days when they would be more active, so we carefully watched both their facebook page and the weather, hoping for just the right conditions. Finally, at the end of the season the weather was just right; we packed up our car with containers and made the hour-long drive up north. 

Even in their last days the fields were a glorious feast for the eyes. The vibrant flowers naturally were turned towards the evening sun. A rock cover band played in the background, which if you enjoy such things, I am certain it added to the enjoyment. Not being a fan of such things, I did not find it particularly enjoyable. I would have preferred a cello performance or swing band, but to each their own. I am not one to dictate to others what sort of music they can listen to or even if music should be playing. Just if you do visit a field with live music, bring your earbuds or headphones so that you can put on something you do enjoy if the music isn’t to your taste. Then again, even if there isn’t a live band, bring them anyway. It is good to have music close at hand to enhance an experience or help drown out unpleasant noise. The small crowd of people were taking photos and harvesting flowers. I took some time to photograph the sunflowers to help capture the glory of the fields, even the ones who were nearing the end of their life cycle.

Perhaps, I am a bit gothic in nature, but I always found the end of the growing season to be beautiful in its own right. There is a certain loveliness to the death of a flower; having lived brilliantly and gloriously, it now loses its color, going quietly into that good night to make way for the next season. There is a quiet stillness about it as it is no longer abuzz with visitors, often robbed of its seeds by birds or other creatures. It is only a shadow of itself, like an echo. What struck me as even in their last days, they still were turned faithfully to the sun, never losing the light. 

Turning back to the brighter field, I gathered up sunflowers in my arms until I could carry no more. Walking through the golden sea, with my arms filled with flowers felt almost surreal, as if I had entered a dream. The flowers stand proud as if they are sentinels of the very sun itself. Stray breezes wind their way through the fields causing some to break their vigil to dance, perhaps rebelliously, but more likely for the sheer joy of our closest star. 


Personally, I enjoyed the fields most when the band was quiet and I could simply enjoy the wonder of nature. To have time to disconnect from the world and tune into the natural world. It was almost transformative to be in their midst, laden with the flowers, as if I were about to become a nature spirit one with the fields. The quiet of the fields let me really listen to the ecosystem going on around me. The buzz of insects and the way the wind rustled through the flowers. Truly, a sunflower field is summer incarnate and I made certain to fill my car with lots of summer. 

While I admonish your dear reader to not live in regret, I do have a small regret from our trip. Not having more containers to bring even more sunflowers home! Part of the joy of our trip was having a house filled with sunflowers. Every corner of our living room boasted these bright blooms. It was like we had brought the sunflower fields home with us! They lasted for about a week and a half which more than made the trek worth it, even though there were closer fields nearby which were just as glorious to witness. 

How can you visit a sunflower field?

Unfortunately, most of the sunflower fields will not permit you to cut their flowers by the bucket full. So if you are looking for the ability to bring as much of summer home with you as possible, that may be a bit tricky or cost you quite a bit more than my $10 admission. However, there are plenty of places which offer sunflower fields to visit and photograph. Personally, the bigger the fields the better they are, but do not count out the smaller fields, for their charm. 

I encourage you to take your time when visiting. Don’t fill it up with endless photos but rather take moments to pause and drink in the moment. The blossoms of the sunflowers are the last hurrah of summer before the leaves begin to turn and fall all too quickly becomes winter. Bask in the warmth of the season, let it seep into your bones for you will need those memories when the wind roars and cuts through to your core. Enjoy the brightness of the yellow blossoms, because color will be slowly drained away after one last defiant show by the trees. Take the memories with you into the winter of life so that way when the darkness comes, you can recall the lessons of the sunflower and turn towards the light. 

Completed: Late Summer 2022

Miles from home: 45

Cost: $10

Challenge Mode: Nerding Out in My Favorite Game

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It may surprise you dear reader, to discover that I am a bit of a nerd or perhaps it was obvious from the start. I have written about the importance of having bucket list items that are unique to yourself and I am a firm believer of practicing what one preaches as well as leading by example. Therefore, I will share with you one of the items that are unique to me. I’m not sure that I can be said to be a gamer as I don’t tend to play many different games. I usually tend to play one or two for a long time and they are typically mmo’s that play with my boyfriend as a joint activity. 

However, I still have goals and enjoy completing challenges within the games that I play. In the spring of 2014, I found myself playing World of Warcraft’s Mists of Pandaria expansion with a singular goal, obtaining the elusive challenge mode armor. As the name implies, it was a specific challenge to be completed in the game. According to wowhead, only 9% of profiles obtained the achievement associated with obtaining the armor. That isn’t to say it was the hardest achievement in the game, I am certain there were more difficult challenges, but it certainly was difficult requiring a player to truly master an individual class. It was especially challenging, since I chose a class I had never played before, opted to “boost it” to skip over the pesky leveling process and then jumped into my first challenge mode dungeon without having done much more than read a general guide on how to play it which only added to the difficulty.

To those unfamiliar with games, I apologize if my description seems a bit obtuse, in the interest of brevity, I shall not overly burden you with lengthy explanations. I suppose the closest analogy that most people would get is to pretend that a class in a game was a position on a sports team, say a quarterback. The quarterback plays a specific role on the team and has specific responsibilities for that position. In a game, the positions have specific moves that only that position or class can utilize in the game. In this particular game, there are challenges known as dungeons in which a group of five players work together to defeat a series of bosses or “villains”. On second thought, I probably should have picked a different analogy considering how little I know about sports….I digress. 

What made it challenging was that unlike the rest of the game, certain advantages that one could typically gain such as better equipment to make it easier to defeat bosses, inside the challenge mode dungeons those advantages were stripped away, requiring you to rely less on your equipment and more on your skill alone. Hence, the thrill of overcoming the challenge presented. Imagine if you will, you were given sneakers that helped you run faster and then you were asked to run the same race track again only this time they gave you shoes with lead weights attached. Then told you, you need to run the race even faster than you used to. 

From Blizzard’s announcement. As you can see, they wanted to give us a mode where we could push ourselves as players.

One doesn’t need to have played wow or even any other video game to recognize that there is a certain satisfaction that comes from executing a skill based challenge rather than being afforded the ability to overcome it through other means. Consider bowling, if you score 70  – 100 points, it’s considered a good game. How would you feel if you executed a game with an end score of 120 on a lane with bumpers which prevent your ball from going in the gutter resulting in you obtaining points that would have otherwise been zero? How about if you executed the same score on a lane without bumpers? What about one that had obstacles or other handicaps? Almost all of us have had the experience of having the training wheels come off and being asked to perform at a high level. The sense of victory one feels at having conquered such a challenge is a rare treat in our modern age. 

Each dungeon was timed, requiring a small team to execute the challenge within the limit in order to obtain the achievement. Not only that, but also the game required a player to complete the challenge on 9 different dungeons, each with their own mechanics and barriers. One had to learn how to quickly work with a group of strangers to execute a given strategy that may not always work given the makeup of the group you were with. Sometimes, a combination of classes simply did not work for a given dungeon like when I was on a druid healer and my boyfriend was playing his druid tank. There was one fight where the druid healer simply could not keep the tank up. We switched up the tank to a warrior and it was much easier to keep the warrior up for that particular fight than the druid. He switched to a different healer and had zero issues staying alive. 

It was a bit of an adrenaline rush to play through the dungeons, responding in the moment to what other players were doing,and alternating how I was approaching a fight given the semi-randomness of the mechanics. I would use moves that I rarely if ever used before, because I never needed to. It felt like I was pushing each class to its limit of what it could do to pull out all the stops. I felt like I was learning more about how to actually play the healer role than I ever had before. I noticed that when I went into other areas of the game, it was much easier to recover bad pulls and botched mechanics.  

My very first CM armor set! Isn’t it pretty?

Not to mention, it was just plain fun to dance around damage, throwing out heals, keeping other players from the brink of death, damaging the boss as time and mana allowed, all at a high level of performance. I enjoyed the hyper focus it required keeping an eye out on everyone’s health bars as well as the pools of damage one needed to avoid, making split second decisions about casting a move quickly or casting a slower spell to conserve mana, being mindful of the cooldowns on all of the moves that one could use and and timing them to support the cooldowns the other players were using at the same time. One wrong decision could mean having to restart the entire dungeon again. 

There were so many failed attempts. I spent hours trying to conquer just one of the dungeons, trying again and again. Still, at the end of each successful attempt, I was elated. At the end of all nine, I had the sweet reward of victory, the achievement, a cool mount and of course one of the best looking armor sets in the game. Might some people think it’s worthless chasing a digital reward that only appears in a digital world? Perhaps, but it represents having conquered a particular skill based challenge. As I stated before, only 9% of profiles obtained this achievement, so I think it’s something worthy to brag about. Besides, it’s my list and I can do what I want!

One of the great things about playing games is that skills gained in a game can be generalized to life outside of the game. I found myself more confident in overcoming challenges in my everyday life and managing stress and anxiety in the moment to still perform at a high level. In other words, managing my performance stress in the game, helped me manage my performance stress at my job and school. It also helped me gain skills in working with other people in high stress situations to achieve mutual goals, something that as a social worker, I’ve needed to do many times. There is value in pushing yourself even in a leisure activity to perform at a high level of skill because of how those skills transfer to other areas of your life. 

So what’s your challenge armor?

Obtaining the challenge mode armor is now an impossibility, (at least for now) as the dungeons to obtain them were removed from the game after the release of Warlords of Dreanor. However, the principles of this item can still be obtained whether you play WoW or not. The first principle is of course picking an activity that is unique to you. Maybe you don’t play games, but you knit or garden. The second is pushing yourself to perform that activity at a high level of skill. Is there a sewing project that is particularly difficult? Maybe there’s a musical piece that is known to be a beast to play. Maybe you play a sport and you want to master a certain skill. 

You may be surprised at how satisfying it is to have mastered something new and the confidence that follows to other areas of your life. Perhaps, you will need to involve other people and make new friends along the way or strengthen existing relationships through a mutual bond of overcoming the challenge together. Even years later, those who completed the challenge modes with me reference that time together and talk about the experience. In fact, I enjoyed completing the achievement so much that in the following expansion I jumped at the chance to get the new challenge mode dungeons completed to obtain special weapons. 

Completed: Summer/Fall 2014 (I completed it on Paladin, Druid & Priest)

Miles from home: 0 – completed from my computer 

Cost: $15 monthly sub-fee as well as $60 for the expansion at the time.

Spontaneous Experiences are Buried Treasure!

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There are some things in life one cannot plan for, but when opportunity comes knocking one has to be ready to follow the white rabbit and see how far into wonderland the journey will take you. This is a short story about how I once found buried treasure. 

It was my senior year of college when one of our friends who graduated the year before decided to come back to campus for a visit. She introduced us to a new idea, geocaching. She explained the concept was that someone would put out gps coordinates of a container that participants would seek out in order to exchange goods, usually trinkets and the like. The containers had a log that one would record one’s name. One of the caches she was seeking out had a location somewhere on our campus. I wasn’t quite sure about the entire process, but it seemed like an interesting idea. Being the naturally, adventurous types myself, my roommate Ray and Laura set out to look for the cache. Keep in mind this was back in 2009 when many of us didn’t have smartphones with gps capabilities. We had a printed out map with coordinates and gumption. 

Soon we found ourselves out in the trails of our campus, looking through the undergrowth of the deciduous forest. You may think that I exaggerate when I speak about my college having a forest or trails, but the truth is, Messiah College (now Messiah University) had a rather large undeveloped section of campus called the “back 40”. It was always one of my favorite places to visit during my time there. Despite having walked on the trails many times, I had not ventured off the trails before that day; mostly because of my run in with a snake my first week on campus, but that day was not a day for cowards! Victory to the brave! 

I distinctly remember crunching through underbrush, keeping an eye out for poison ivy and snakes. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for or how I’d know if I found it, but I was determined to help my friend on her small expedition. It was around an old wooden bridge that we discovered not what we were looking for, but rather an old tin can that had been hammered shut. We checked the map and the coordinates, the tin was decidedly not the cache in question. At first, we sort of dismissed it and continued our search but to no avail. Intrigued by our discovery, though disappointed that we had not been successful in finding the cache, we headed back to our campus apartment.

It took quite a bit of doing, but eventually we were able to pry open the can to reveal a mud filled container of something. We dumped out the contents and were surprised to find it had been filled with quarters. We immediately began counting out piles of 4 and then stacking the piles up 10 at a time. We quickly discovered we had found over $100. Buried treasure! 

I had not set out that morning to find treasure, it was a spontaneous adventure untaken on a whim. Nor was it an especially long adventure, but it was memorable. And yes, I understand that $100 is not exactly buried treasure, certainly not in today’s economy, but to three poor college students it certainly felt like treasure.  

How can you find buried treasure?

I cannot promise that you’ll find treasure if you decide to go geocaching, but there are plenty of aps out there that will allow you to participate.  

To embody the principle of this particular post, embrace spontaneity. Go on that silly adventure with your friend, you never know where it will lead or what you will find. I have lots of stories that begin with an invitation to something unexpected. I have yet to regret saying yes. Having a list and making plans is all well and good, but one should not be so bore-sighted on the current goals that one is not open to opportunities that arise. Sure you might not have $100 at the end of the day, but you will have memories made with someone dear to you which is worth far more. 

Completed: 2009

Miles from home: 0 (when counting campus as the home point)

Cost: Free

Escape Room

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The clock was ticking and every moment counted down to either our escape or doom. Even if we managed to beat one clock, another was also ticking, an uncertain one because just as quickly as we were solving the puzzles, so was the other just through the bars. If we could just solve the puzzle we would win! Her fingers trembled with excitement as realization struck and my sister’s friend exclaimed “I got it!” We were off! But so was the other team. Knowledge that they were as close as we were semi-scattered our members for a brief second before order could be restored, but it was the delay that would cost us. As we tried to get our final pieces in place, we heard their yells of elation. We were too late, by mere seconds. We did complete the puzzle, we were not about to simply throw in the towel completely, but the sting of defeat was still there. We looked over at the other team, well played sirs and madams, well played. 

My team after our loss.

In 2007, the first escape room was launched by Takao Kato in Kyoto Japan. A fan of manga and in the publishing business, he told the Japan Times “I wondered why interesting things didn’t happen in my life, like they did in books. I thought I could create my own adventure, a story, and then invite people to be a part of it. The world certainly accepted such an invitation as the concept of “escape rooms” swept nation after nation. Ironically bringing everything full circle as it can trace its roots back through “escape the room” video games, adventure game shows on television, which spawned from D’n’D where you can be the protagonist of your own adventure, which is exactly the appeal. 

For me my love of puzzle adventure comes from the now classic video game of Myst. My siblings and I spent hours going through the game, sharing notes and progress, taking turns trying to solve the puzzles. I still enjoy puzzle games on the computer, but an escape room allows you to really feel and experience the story in a different way because of course you’re in the actual environment interacting with the physical objects. I’m not necessarily a fan of having a timer, since it means I can’t be as reflective as I can be in the video game. I happen to enjoy just exploring an environment, taking in the physical artifacts of a civilization as a semi-anthropologist. Do I care that the civilization doesn’t actually exist and is only a game? No, but I shalln’t digress too much. However, most escape rooms aren’t set in exotic alien civilizations so I needn’t worry about having my contemplations being overly rushed. 

Escape rooms allow you to be “in” the story, solve the crime, stop the villain, rescue the princess and all do it before needing to be home for supper. For a brief time, the outside world stops existing and you can live out the fantasy of being the hero. They are often done in small groups which means you can bring your friends along for the ride. Some you can even pit your friends against each other as I did. Others are purely cooperative. It’s a chance to get away from screens and enjoy something different. Some of the puzzles are easy, others quite fiendish and you can select the level of difficulty based on where you want to go . There are leaderboards in some places where the fastest teams to complete a given puzzle are showcased. 

For me, I joined my sister and her group of friends for a dueling escape room. The theme was the old west where a group of convicts were trying to escape the jail. We started off “tied up” with ropes that we had to “undo” by way of a rope maze and then we were off. Trying to open safes, collect clues, decipher scripts and even throw balls to try and knock down clues that were trapped on the other side of the bars. Each side had to solve puzzles, racing each other to the finish. At one point we were forced to work together despite the competitive nature of both teams. Neither team made use of the control room for hints instead spying to steal from one another. 

The showdown room….

Either way, completing it was a fun mental exercise of trying to think fast under pressure, learning how to quickly work together as a team and allowing different people to play up their strengths. I was not the person to throw the balls at the cards to knock the clues down so we could see. However, I’m a natural leader so there were times when I jumped in to give direction to help divide up the tasks. Nothing quite like being thrown in the middle of an adventure with a new group of people that you have to learn to work with quickly! 

So if you think you might want to join your friends for a semi-real life mystery adventure, an escape room may be for you. 

How can you complete your own escape room?

The cool thing about escape rooms is they come in many shapes and sizes. You can even order smaller versions online to do at your home which I did in the middle of the pandemic. It’s not quite as immersive as an actual room, but it was still quite enjoyable. If you want something that is in between an escape room and a boxed version, you could do as my sister’s friend Joanne does and make your own puzzle game for your friends. 

My sister and her team solving the mystery of who broke into the backerey!

Every few months, she invites a group over to her home and introduces them to a mystery that has to be solved or a race that has to be completed. She hides clues around the house along with various puzzles that we have to use those clues to solve. We usually compete in teams for prizes, but we always have a good time working together and unveiling the answers. One doesn’t need a large room, filled with stuff to create an escape room or a lot of money to make one. It can be just as fun or more so to create it for your friends and have them create one for you. Take turns, start a yearly tradition of hosting a party. Bucket list experiences are all well and good, but cultivating close personal friendships through shared activities that everyone can enjoy is even better! 

Completed: 2019

Miles from home: 33 

Cost: $125 for 8 people (about $16 per person) / For an at home party, you will most likely spend about $50 – $100 on various materials for a group of 12 – 16 people.