GE 2018: Sayonara from South Beach

It’s the end… Farewell, So Long, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu… So very sad for it to be the last day of Global Scavenger Hunt 2018.  We are in Miami, Florida and fly home tomorrow. But we squeezed the very last drop of fun out of the trip ... and got to see our Burner family and my nieces as well.

We arrived last night and are staying at the Intercontinental:  very nice hotel with great ocean views from the room.  Latin music blasted outside of our room until the wee hours but the very soft bed and exemplary pillows offset my urge to smash a maraca or two.

Most of the competition teams headed out to do the bonus challenge of a swamp boat/ gator viewing trip in the Everglades.  But we have done that trip before, so we headed to South Beach, where we rented bikes and rode around checking out the art deco buildings and tried to find a “kitschy” pink flamingo to pose with.  Sadly South Beach has really upped its lawn decoration style in the last few years and there was not a flamingo to find. True Tragedy. 

We did find a VERY plump and lazy iguana... does that count?

Museum of Ice Cream … who can resist?

Then we had lunch (a long, long - filled with laughter and catching up - lunch) with our Burning Man family (i.e. the group that we camp with at Burning Man).  This year we have applied to be an actual theme camp at the festival (which apparently involved a 6+ hour, multi-page application process and LOTS of  administrative work...tip of the hat and much thanks to Rick), so we did loads of planning around that event. I just want to make it clear that I designated myself QUEEN of the theme camp… so no stealing that spot.  Too much to talk about, so little time.

Check-in today was at the pool bar in the hotel.  Marnie and Greg flew out this afternoon so it was also time to say goodbye to them (if I knew how to add emojis to this blog, I’d have a big sad face right here).

The event coordinator, Bill, announced the winners of the competition:

In second place, NOLA Second Place (Jim and Betty) - with their medals

In first place, SLO Folks (who rocked the event)

Plus - exciting news - for the very first time – ever – I won the Player’s Pool (along with Marnie).  The Player’s Pool is this tradition that - at the start of the competition – everyone guesses which countries they think we are going to and chips in $20.  At the end, the person with the most correct countries wins the pool.  I typically get zero – or at best one - correct country… but this time, both Marnie and I guessed FOUR correct countries (although not the same 4) and split the pot. YAY.

I’ll leave you with my favorite street art from today…. Until the next adventure …