Week 5: Goal 35 - Adventure with Scotty

The goal from my 60 until 60 list that I accomplished this week was #35 on the list: "Do some TBD adventure with Scotty." 

Why?
This year my "Theme Word" is "Connection." I especially want to have one-on-one adventures with my family and closest friends.   Scotty is the youngest of my 3 kids and he's been my companion on many vacations, adventures, excursions and road trips over the years. Now that he's an adult, I want to be sure to have at least one adventure every year with him.

I hadn't really figured out what our adventure would be this year..  last year we went to an escape room convention in Nashville which was a blast.

At the end of last year, I'd sent Scotty information about an escape room competition put on by Red Bull.  He, as usual, was game and immediately started recruiting to get the requisite team of 4 needed to compete.  I offered to join the team if needed and when it turned out the second qualifying round was to be held in Santa Monica,  I was called in.  I'd wanted to get out of cold Colorado and Scotty agreed to drive out with me. (He flew back home, but I'm staying in the warmer weather for a couple of weeks!)

What we did

We left Denver Wednesday afternoon and made it to Grand Junction in time to have dinner with my good friend, Rebecca.

The next day, we drove to Vegas, and, after memorizing all the strategic moves throughout our road-trip, we did well (came out ahead, anyway) at the black-jack table and made a little at the slots, too.

We made it to Santa Monica on Friday afternoon, timed to meet up with my daughter, Megan (who was also on the team), and my two grandkids, and we spent the afternoon and evening walking along the Venice channel, the beach, and the boardwalk.

On Saturday morning, Team Puzzlicino (Scotty, Megan, me, and my niece, Becca) met for the second qualifier of the Red Bull competition. I'm afraid we did not make it to the finals, but we still had fun and now we are much better prepared for next year!

What worked well

• Easy driving! Great weather and not a lot of traffic the whole way. Even I was driving fast and passing trucks without my usual anxiety.
• Always fun to do road trips with Scotty. We like to play a goofy version of 'Name That Tune' (as evidenced from the video in this blog post) and have deep discussions and the time flies by!
• It was really nice to only drive for 5-7 hours each day.  Plenty of time to get a workout in and my back didn't hurt at all!
• Very lucky to be able to stop in Grand Junction and have a visit with my friend!
• Very fun to practice blackjack and come out ahead at the tables! First time I'd been to Vegas with Scotty as an adult and able to gamble
• Happy and proud to be included on Team Puzzlicino!

What could have been better

• Because Scotty and I have had so many road trips in the past, it didn't feel like this was much of a special adventure. On the other hand, I savored it more because I know that once he gets in a long-term relationship, he's unlikely to do too many more road trips with his Mom.
• Scotty was not impressed with the Book on CD that I brought along, "Stranger in a Strange Land" so we only listened to one CD.