Treasure hunt

This morning, Paul and Alta informed me that they'd left their camera here last night and would be coming by to pick it up. I wasn't sure that I would be around when they dropped by, so I told them I'd leave their camera in a gold box in the large wooden toy box on the front porch.

It dawned on me that they would not be there for some time. I thought it would be fun to create a treasure hunt for them that would lead to their camera, I was sooo looking forward to taking a picture of tall Paul riding the kid's bike down the street. so I spent the next hour creating a 15-clue treasure hunt that would lead to them finding their camera under an abalone shell in the same toy box, inches from the gold box (where I left their first clue in place of the camera). Mom and her friend Anna learned about what I'd set up and were the most excited about this event, looking forward to finding out what the clues were, etc.

As it turned out, Paul and Alta were behind schedule and needed to hurry off, so they needed a shortened version. While they were figuring out a clue elsewhere, I swapped out one of the other clues so that they would find their camera within 3 or 4 clues. After they left, I gave Mom the clue that they would've gotten next. She had a blast completing the rest of the hunt, finally finding the original clue that mentioned the final location of the camera, and she knew she was done.

I hid their camera under the abalone shell. I then wrote "Look under the abalone shell in the toy box" on a slip of paper.

I hid the clue about the abalone shell under a plastic orange pot on the porch. On a new slip of paper, I wrote "Look under the orange pot on the porch." (There are several such pots, so that was a simple "complication.")

I looked around for a hiding place for this new piece of paper and then wrote a clue about that hiding spot, etc. After about 15 of those, I had a piece of paper I could give them as their starting point...and since I'd already instructed them to "look in the gold box," I just put that note in the gold box where they expected to find the camera in the first place. Then I waited for them to come so I could see their reaction. (Okay, so it didn't work out because of the time pressure, but they got their camera.)

Most of the clues were pretty straightforward (to keep the feeling of success high and not associate frustration with what was meant for good):

• Find the electical outlet on the front of the house. [It was under the spring flap.]
  
• By the front lawn sprinkler is a hole on wall. [It lined the inner circumference of that hole.]
  
• Above the hummingbird feeder. [There are two. It was sticking out of a crack in the board above one.]
  
• Find the shovel in the side yard. [It was slipped into the little gap where the wood handle fits into the metal spade.]
  
• Under the gravel by the firehydrant. [They had to scoot gravel out of the way.]
  
• Find the gray sewer access on the side of the house. [It lined the inner circumference of the hole in the lid, sticking out slightly to ensure it was easy enough to see/grab.]
  
• Find the flamingoes on the front porch. [There is a windchime that is ornamented with little flamingoes. I curled up a note and inserted it in one of the tubes.]

Some were a bit more complicated:

• Find the naked lady at the edge of the front lawn. [I added a small sketch of the flower of that name. I curled up the note and stuck it inside the bell-shaped flower.]
  
• By the street side gate are blue flowers. Near those is a smll geranium under a tall bush. Dig it up to find something that doesn't belong there. You'll need the shovel. [A foot and a half of digging later, they'd find a squished coke can with the rolled-up note weaved through the pop-top tab.]
  
• God provided what when Abraham was about to kill Isaac? It is within eyesight. Look in the back. [Nearby was a Dodge RAM pickup. The note was floating around in the truck bed.]
  
• Across and down the street is a black Volvo. On the way are poppies. There is a tennis ball nearby. [The note was under the tennis ball.]
  
• Ride the little bicycle (found in the side yard) to the nearby school tennis court driveway and find the No Exit sign. [At the base of it was an empty soup can with a note in it.]
  
• Near the front porch is an extension cord with a trouble light [a lightbulb in a protective case with hook]. Hook the light onto the flag pole mount on the front of the house. Stretch out the rest of the cord down the driveway. As you walk West with the cord, the end of the cord follows an arc. That arc lines up with a short plant. [Wrapped around the base of a little oak sapling was a note.]
  

When Mom started tackling the treasure hunt, I took off with the little bike to fetch the distant clue, not wanting Mom to suffer the task I'd aimed at Paul. (I was sooo looking forward to taking a picture of tall Paul riding the kid's bike down the street.) A neighbor, driving out of the neighborhood, pulled over near where I was and called out of her car to point out how silly I looked riding that little bicycle. We laughed.

Making a treasure hunt
Starting with whatever it is you want the person to find when the hunt is over, repeat these steps over and over: (1) hide the thing; (2) get a slip of paper and write a clue about the thing you hid; write the clue number on it, starting with 1 for the first one you write.

Thus, the second thing you hide is the clue you wrote about what you just hid. When you're all done, you will have a piece of paper with a clue that you can give your friend. (The numbers help your friend know how close he or she is to finishing.)

Knowing Mom would eventually get to the task involving the shovel, I then went and grabbed that and was heading to go dig for her, once she discovered the geranium location. When I rounded the corner, there was Mom, bent over a one foot deep hole she had already dug with her bare hands! She was into this! But she acknowledge shovelling was needed now, and I took over. Soon, the dusty coke can appeared and she grabbed it and worked on its clue.

Mom says her favorite was finding the note rolled up inside the flower. (She also kidded, "Naked ladies. I figured you'd work sex into this puzzle for Paul, somehow.").

I do hope that this story--and perhaps the mere mention of "treasure hunt"--motivates you to create some fun for a parent or niece or nephew or grandkid. And come back and tell me about it! :)