Urbanquest!

I love Groupon (and its copycats)! Presenting a never ending supply of discounted activities and adventures,  many of which I have never heard of before they show up in my email. 

Today's adventure was an Urbanquest, put out by a company of the same name, and giving us a chance to see how we'd do if we ever ended up on The Amazing Race. Urbanquest has adventures in many cities across the U.S,  and the closest one to us was in San Francisco.  Not that we needed anything else to do on our trip,  but I kind of wish I had looked into this a little more before we left since they also have them in Chicago and Washington DC.

I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, and was even a little more doubtful once I saw that my payment included a pdf download of questions (with the answers at the bottom) and was supposed to take less than two hours. (They have the option to book dinner reservations somewhere at the end of your quest, but you must solve all of the clues to find out what restaurant it is for.) But since I'd already paid for it, we went ahead to the City to give it a go. A day wasted in San Francisco is always a good day anyway.

Our quest instructions told us to head to Washington Park in the North Beach district and park nearby.  We put an hour's worth of money in the meter, convinced we'd probably have to move the car at some point, and headed out. The first two clues were in the park itself, with the third and forth on the same block (including several questions about this building across the street).

We were already learning some interesting things about the local buildings and history.  Like, for example that the bakery on the corner near the park makes amazing foccacia bread. So good, in fact, that the line forms before 5 am around the holidays (even though the store doesn't open until 8) to get the coveted baked goods.

The clues at the top of the page told us that we'd be walking the hills of SF, and I was really glad that I wore my tennis shoes because the next place we headed was straight up the hill, up the hundreds of steps leading to the Coit Tower. They weren't kidding!

I had never been to the tower before, and the view was amazing. However, I was suddenly aware that we might not make it back to our car in time, even though we were moving at a really good clip (I had figured the two hour time limit was generous and included those moving at a slower pace than us). But even in our haste, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap a photo of a monk buying an ice cream cone.

The clues told us to take the back steps down the hill, so we did. There was no hurrying down those crazy, steep steps, though. After we finally reached the bottom, very thankful that we had gone down those brick steps and not up them, I rushed the girls a bit faster than they liked. We did a few more clues before we completely ran out of time. Not only was my meter expired, but there were signs on the street saying that the road closed at 3 pm, meaning I'd have to move my car completely. Luckily, I found another spot on an adjacent street pretty quickly, and we made our way back to where we left off, snapping a photo of the unusual street sign as we passed by.

Back on the quest route we continued answering questions. I was actually amazed at the amount of trivia we were learning, and searching the area for clues was a great way to notice all kinds of things about architecture, murals, unusual stores and signs, and even the unique things for sale in this part of town. We visited a photography gallery, went inside novelty shops, bakeries, clothing stores, and peered into the windows of many more. The area was completely family friendly, and now that we were not rushed, we really settled into touring this area of the city, visiting any shops that looked interesting and making mental notes of the restaurants we were  considering eating at for dinner.

One of our clues wasn't good anymore, so we went pretty far out of the way before giving up, but that only gave us the chance to visit an amazingly cool art supply shop that was two floors full of every crafting supply imaginable. And they were real craft supplies at that, not these so-called 'craft' shops we have back home. Rows and rows of high quality paints, clay for pottery, soapstone and wood for carving, rooms of paper in all colors, textures and thicknesses, yarn, easels, canvas - amazing! (Or dangerous, depending on how you look at it.) Luckily I wasn't in the mood to buy something and carry it around (because of course A wanted a huge rock to carve), so I told the girls we'd come back and look around another day.

Did you know this place serves 3000 pounds of garlic a month!?!

So, I guess it's pretty clear that we had a blast doing this Urbanquest. Despite two missing clues and the interruptions with parking, I would definitely do it again any day. In fact, they actually have two for SF, so we may do another one really soon!

If you choose to do one, here's a bit of advice for you:

1. Print the clues. This is the most important one. Many of the clues require writing or checking boxes, and doing it all in your head isn't easy. They say they are working on an app, but for now, print it. Maybe even print extra copies for your kids, too.

2. Wear good shoes and keep the weather in mind. It was sunny and we were walking around in the sun all day. Unless you're going to rush through it, allow for several hours of weather changes.

3. Allow extra time. It's more fun to look around and notice new things and to have the time to go into shops and look around. If you have dinner reservations at the end, or if you want to be sure you finish in the "allotted time" (we didn't), start your timer about half way through,  or even 3/4 of the way through. Since the instructions are printed, you can technically start questing before you click the 'Start' button on their website. I advise taking advantage of that.

4. Keep your parking meter in mind. Although we went back to move our car about 2/3 of the way through, we were several blocks away when we did so. The route really takes you on a grand loop-de-loop, so be prepared to be nowhere near your car until you're done.

5. Tell me all about it! If you do an Urbanquest, I'd love to hear what you think of it. And if you're thinking of doing the one in SF, don't worry, I didn't give away hardly any of it at all! (although you may want to email me so I can tell you about the missing clue and save you the walk :P)