Lewis Emery Treasure Hunt in Hillsdale Michigan

I was a Lewis Emery Treasure Hunt virgin until Saturday night. We assembled a team of five and eagerly awaited the start of the search for clues that would make us zig zag across the county to the final destination. 94 teams met at the Hillsdale County Fairgrounds at dusk on a misty cool night for the traditional Saturday before Halloween event that was being run for the 76th time.

First, 2 easy clues were found on the fairgrounds. Then came the clues that required a drive. We read and figured and strained our brains on a cryptic message for about an hour when we decided we were already stumped. We elected to follow the next vehicle that moved. Unfortunately for us, the car we were following had a different starting clue than we had, so we were already disqualified for not deciphering our own clue.

Oh, well, we just wanted to have fun without too much frustration. We found the next two clues with relative ease before making the backwards clue much harder than it should have been. I swear we drove down every dirt road in the whole county–twice!  before getting the clue in the can.  Of course, we didn’t have a can opener and resorted to an alternate means to open the container that once could have contained pork and beans. Running the can over to try to pop the lid was a bad idea. It only made it even more difficult to open. We ruined a scissors making a hole in the can, but managed to remove the paper inside in relatively good condition.

The rest of the clues were a breeze for our team. We finished the quest at around 1:45 a.m. and would have been 9th if we hadn’t gotten stumped on an early cypher.  The organizers said we would travel 165 miles if we made no mistakes–we drove 210 miles!

We were frustrated for a good deal of the beginning of the night, but had a blast and acquired some satisfaction upon reaching the final destination and enjoying a pulled pork sandwich and hot chocolate with the other finishers.

My head hit my pillow at 3:10 a.m. and I had to awaken to make breakfast at the Munro House Bed and Breakfast in Jonesville Michigan for a houseful of hungry guests. If the B&B gods are good to me, I will be able to play again next year.

Pro Football Hall of Fame

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton Ohio–just 3 1/2 hours from my house. My buddy, Jeff, has been trying to get me to go for some time. The days I was available never matched the days he could go, until this week.

Late arrivals on Wednesday were what I expected for my business, the Munro House Bed and Breakfast in Jonesville, Michigan. That allowed me to play hookie for the day. A seven hour round trip and a half day looking at football memorabilia was on tap. We arrived early afternoon and stayed until closing and had a good time.

I was there to see the stars from the Green Bay Packers. Jeff was interested in the Pittsburgh Steelers. The legends from these two teams occupy a lot of space at the Hall of Fame.  With only about 250 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, there is definitely an elite group of players represented here.

An afternoon of enjoying displays and watching highlight films culminated with interactive stuff like throwing a football into a target and taking a head-to-head trivia challenge.  Next time I will bring a football to toss around on the Pro Turf practice field just outside the hall.

Life is good in Jonesville.

Curb Your Enthusiasm Features Gang from Seinfeld

I am a recent subscriber to HBO and a recent fan of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”. After watching just one episode, I was hooked. Larry David is the central character. Larry David is famous for having introduced the “Seinfeld” television show. Larry is actually Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza in one person. The same phobias, insecurities, and inappropriate comments from the Seinfeld program continue through Larry’s character in Curb Your Enthusiasm.

The program is filmed like a documentary or a reality TV show. Through behind-the-scenes programs, I have learned that most of the show is unscripted. There is an idea and a couple of lines that need to be inserted into the conversation. Everything else is ad-lib.

Apparently, the premise is that Larry wants to get the Seinfeld gang back together. Because this is filmed like a reality show, Larry talks to Jerry, and Jason Alexander, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Michael Richards about doing a Seinfeld episode that explains what has happened to the characters in the 11 years since the show went off the air. As viewers of “Curb”, we will see the  stuff–writing of the script, read-throughs, rehearsals, and portions of a reunion show–but there will not really be a reunion show.

This is going to be a very amusing non-reunion “reunion” show that is going to last for 6-7 episodes of this season’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” show. I’ll be watching from my couch at the Munro House Bed and Breakfast in Jonesville, Michigan.  Join me if you don’t have cable. I can’t wait.