One Night In Fremont …

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble ~ Murray Head. However, one night in Fremont made for a memorable night that creates many stories. I was inspired by a business trip, team building task that launched into a birthday celebration of EPIC proportions.

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Aruba 2013 – As I mentioned I was inspired by a team building task I was given while on a business trip to Aruba. It was a photo scavenger hunt around the island. You were paired up with your hotel roommate so that was Ben.

I still can’t recall if we won, or not, but the experience gave me an idea …

5 Year Plan

I launched a 5-year plan of birthday parties for myself, starting with my 35th birthday, and culminating with my 40th. This was the 3rd year, so this party needed to exceed last year’s which would be difficult as we dressed up as pirates to basically take over the Swinomish Casino and Lodge in the Anacortes area.

My friend, Cindy, and I brain stormed my idea of a photo scavenger but IN COSTUME for my birthday. In 2014, mobile phone technology has changed the digital photo landscape. Phones were cameras, cameras were phones.

So, I surveyed the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle – the single weirdest place that wouldn’t question a group of costume people running around gathering up photos of various objects.

I was happy with the 10 objects, so I was ready to return home to write questions, clues to hatch this event of fun.

One Night In Fremont

February 7, 2014 – Fremont. The day of the event, I drove down early to ensure that the 10 locations understood that my birthday party would be allowed into bars without static and/or paying a fee to capture a photo.

As anticipated, each establishment was receptive to my request.

My instructions were to dress up as your favorite comic hero, or if feeling creative, create your own superhero with a backstory.

I had managed to gather several friends to join me in this adventure: Alicia, Silk Spectre II; Jesse, Bryan, and Jason, Clark Kent; my Dad, Superman; my sister, Captain America; Alyssa, Bat Girl; Michelle, Super Girl; Scott, thief (?) and lastly, yours truly dressed up, Tony Stark / Iron Man.

Josie dressed up as Super Los, which I didn’t realize until much later in the year. I thought she dressed up as the Comedian to match Alicia’s Silk Spectre II.

This sidebar is worthy of a separate post.

I laminated the clue sheet and handed them out to the teams. Once they dispersed, I casually walked from the “start” bar of the High Dive to the “finish” bar The Ballroom with the prizes for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams arriving back with the correct photos.

The first team to arrive was Jesse and Bryan, both dressed as Clark Kent yet Superman’s S underneath their button-up shirts!

The second team to arrive was my Dad and sister, Superman, and Captain America respectively.

The third team to arrive was Scott, and Jason, thief, and Clark Kent.

Eventually, all the other players made their way to the Ballroom and out of the bitter cold night air. And then? We started drinking, dancing, and laughing, and more photos.

Next, it was more drinking, and partying. It was an EPIC night.

It was one of those Hangover movie type of experiences. Little did I realize this experience would inspire me to seek out Geocaching later that year.

One night in Fremont left a memorable impression on all of us.

‘los; out