Terrible – and terrific – day in Boston

First, terrible – because after trekking all across the world, encountering every bacteria and germ known to man, and staying healthy as a horse - Rainey got deathly ill today on American soil. He has not been out of bed since breakfast, has fever and chills, headache, upset stomach – basically you name it and it is not working right on him. He is so sick that it breaks my heart. He made me go out and scavenged all day with Ben and Nanny – so I have great adventures to relate – but it was a beautiful day in Boston and Rainey missed out on all of the fun. Plus, you do not get any points unless both team members are present at every event - so, we ended up with ZERO points for the Boston rally.

Luckily, we did not need the points - because - on the terrific side – I am SOOOO proud to announce that the Littlepage Booth Penchas teams did a clean sweep of first and second place. Rainey and I won FIRST place and received the “World’s Best Traveler: 2009” medals and trophy this afternoon (he got his in abstention – but it still counts). In addition to the awesome medals, winning also means that we get to come back again next year – FOR FREE!!!! I can’t wait…only 364 days to go…!!!! Be ready for more blogs.

And, in SECOND place (surprising everyone with their travel skills, stamina and drive), came the Something Old, Something New team of Nanny and Ben. It was a great evening. For a recording of all of the scores for every team for each leg, go to: http://www.globalscavengerhunt.com/scoreboard.htm

Now – on to Boston. We started off with a Ride the Ducks tour of the city (100 bonus points) which was a great start as it gave us a good overview of the city and some landmarks for the rest of the scavenges. Then we video-taped Ben reciting a Longfellow poem while on the Longfellow bridge (which first required a trip to Borders to copy out a Longfellow poem as, for sure, none of us knew any by heart). Next on to Fanueil Hall and Quincy market for a food scavenge and where Mom “got in the act with a local street performer” and danced with a street musician (35 points). We got side-tracked watching a contortionist performer who literally fit his body through a squash racket (not an easy talent to describe on a resume). No points for that one but the train-wreck draw of his show kept us back almost half an hour

Our favorite other scavenges from today (like all days in this event, we do so many things each day that I can only choose a few to talk about or this blog would go on and on):

Scavenge # 1: At Boston City Hall, you will find a large outdoor Tea Kettle. What sits under it.
First, the kettle actually puts out smoke or steam all day (just like it is boiling) and second, can you believe it? Below it is a Starbucks… (they really are EVERYWHERE... except Cambodia and Tunisia as we learned on this trip).

Scavenge # 2: Near Paul Revere’s house, visit a triangle that is a square. What two things meet but don’t cause an eclipse?
Cute riddle. Right in front of Paul Revere’s house is a small town square that is actually shaped like a triangle. Two of the intersecting streets that make up the triangle are called “Moon” and “Sun”.

Scavenge # 3: Visit Widener Library.. what was the main condition of the benefactor?
This is Harvard’s library and the benefactor required that “no brick on the building ever be changed”. So, as times have passed and the university needed to expand the library, they could not change the structure, so they have had to dig down below it and expand downwards. Ben got a kick out of seeing the Harvard campus.

And so ends this second year of Great Escape Global Scavenger Hunt. With great sadness, we leave tomorrow for 12 months without the high pace and drama of traveling around the world ay a break-neck . We cannot wait to start again... next year. Thank you all, once again, for supporting us and following us on our adventures. It has been ANOTHER trip of a lifetime !!!