A surprise for Tracy

November 13, 2005 was Tracy's 30th birthday. To celebrate the occasion, I teamed up with one of Tracy's friends from afar (Michelle, who lives in CT) to plan a suprise scavenger hunt that led to a party at Tracy's favorite restaurant. Not knowing any better, Tracy made things more difficult for me by basically spending the whole weekend in my presence, giving me very little time to work out the logistics or plant the clues, let alone have any face time with only Michelle, who was on the west coast this week.

Fear not, the event went off nearly flawlessly -- permit me to recap. I had sailing class from 9:00-1:00, so that left Tracy to meet up with Michelle at the ferry dock around 12:30. While the two were at lunch, Michelle slipped clue #1 to the waitress, who delivered to to Tracy. This pointed them to Rosita's where they met up with her friend Emily. Unfortunately, Adam didn't do his homework, and Rosita's didn't open until 4pm. So the crew moved over to Tacos Guayamos for a margarita. Emily then delivered the next clue, to drive over to my house to pick up a GPS and camera, as well as the next clue, which led them to my boat. Waiting for them in the boat were a bag of Cheetos (Tracy's favorite snack), and a clue that directed them to go to the locally famous Interurban statue in Fremont, where Tracy's family (minus Kate) were waiting. Kate is attending law school in Spokane, so it was with great surprise that she was waiting for Tracy at her next stop -- Zoka's Cafe. After having a coffee there, the next clue led them to REI, where Tracy was to pick up my birthday gift to her -- a new set of skis (she didn't know exactly what she was supposed to pick up, so it apparently took a little while).

While Tracy was doing the hunt, I was taking advantage of the mostly free afternoon to get the rest of the clues ready. I had picked up a sign at Fred Meyer, some flowers to place at Safeco Field, and her ice cream cake at Cold Stone in Fremont, and was heading down to Safeco Field to plant a clue when disaster struck. The Seahawks had a home game that was just getting out and I was pinned in traffic with an ice cream cake in my back seat. By this point, Tracy and Michelle were on their way from REI, so I needed to detour them...but to where? I called Marcy and suggested that I drop off the flowers/clue there instead, before hurrying over to Mt. Baker Rowing and Sailing Club to post the final clue, a "No Trespassing" sign. I was in traffic for so long that I actually needed to call Michelle to have them pull over. However, as with most things, everything worked out just fine. The ladies found their way to the Tylee house, and picked up the flowers and proceed to Mt. Baker, where they found the sign and a clue that pointed them to Tutta Bella.

At Tutta Bella we had a fine party waiting for them. 15 people in all, and a tasty meal followed by some (soft) ice cream cake. No worries, though. I think Tracy had a great time, and hey, maybe 30 ain't that bad after all! For all the pictures, follow this link.