New kinds of adventure, featuring a scavenger hunt proposal!

We had the weekend booked in our calendar: "Erin + Uri weekend", meaning, we would not make any plans with anyone else, for once. But, we also couldn't say No when we received a surprise invite to a scavenger hunt for that Saturday. A few years ago, two of our friends had created a scavenger hunt for us (imagine: walking out your door and seeing a small box with question marks drawn all over the surface), which had us biking around Ithaca searching for clues. We had a marvelous time, and it was such a thoughtful and fun adventure (10/10 recommend doing this for your friends). So, we were delighted to be going on another one!

Our phones buzzed with the ominous texts Monday morning:

Good afternoon dear scavengers.

ARE. YOU.

REDDY?

Until now we have maintained an air of secrecy and detachment as we have prepared the upcoming event this Saturday. In this we have hoped to maintain the suspense of the moment.

Uriel, it has come to our attention that you recently passed a perilous defense of Doctoral Philosophy. In light of this we have prepared for both of you a celebratory scavenger hunt around Ithaca (we also want to celebrate you making it through the first year of your PhD Erin).

The rules are as follows:

1. You will be on your own! You must work as a team!

2. Bring bikes to zip around and a fanny pack to store clues.

3. The game begins this Saturday at 9:30am. You should park at my house. Expect to finish at 2pm, so bring snax 🤘and perhaps plan to buy some lunch along the way.

4. The first clue will be taped to my back door.

5. Text when you find each clue. At certain junctures we may supply delightfully puzzling hints.

For the rest of the week, the air of mystery grew, and then Saturday morning arrived. The first hint was indeed hanging from a little bag on our friend's back door. Move your asses, make 'em shimmy, go to a park that's next to.....

Of course, it was referring to Gimme!, a popular coffee shop a few blocks away. And, for the rest of the morning, we hunted clues by bicycle, each one a place where we loved to go. Not knowing where we would have to go next or where the clue would be hidden was a great adventure!

1. The park by Gimme Coffee. It took a minute to find this one, but it was in the ceiling beams of the park's gazebo!

2. Press Bay Coffee. This was a quick one to figure out since Circus Culture is right next to Press Bay, one of mine and Uri's favorite coffee shops. Tucked away in a flower bed was our next clue!

3. Ithaca Farmers Market. Loaded with people on the warm, bustling Saturday, it would have been impossible to find the clue without an additional hint. After an extra prompt, we were led to the little book exchange shelf in the farmer's market where our next clue awaited.

4. Ithaca Falls. This one was a hard one to find. Our friend tucked the hint in the bushes off the side of the trail, and we looked for a long time trying to find it. Eventually, we did find it with a little extra help.

5. East Shore Park. This park is a great place for wind surfing, sun-bathing, and polar plunging! Uri and I went night swimming here early on in our relationship, and the clue was tucked in between rocks by the lake shore.

6. Botanical Gardens. We really love going to these gardens in the summertime, which are filled with beautiful flowers, trees, and herbs. We had a tough time finding the clue in the herb garden, which was taped under one of the stone benches.

7. Cornell Arboretum. An easy find! We knew immediately that the clue was hidden at the gazebo over the lily pond. Very quickly, we found it tucked under one of the wooden benches.

It was here at the Arboretum when I was pretty sure I knew what was happening. The next task was to go to DeWitt Park and "find a place where you would like to sit". This is the park where Uri and I had first met each other. In August of 2018, I arrived by bicycle to see Uri sitting on a bench with his bike, and, after meeting, we cycled around Ithaca for the afternoon. I didn't expect our friends to know about this place/ the meaning of it, so on our speedy and windy descent down from Cornell to town, I began to get excited.

Of course, the clue was under our bench. The final task was to rearrange the first letters of all the other clues to spell out the last hint. Perhaps you can guess it, but rearranged, they posed a question: Marry Me?

Uri knelt on one knee and said some heartfelt words that my brain cannot remember because I was far too excited and happy to focus on anything but the ring he was holding out to me.

Of course, I said Yes!

Fast-forward 2 weeks, and we nearly have every aspect of the wedding planned (to be expected from me, my mom, and future MIL who all love planning). Who said wedding planning was stressful? I've had a wedding Pinterest board since high school!

We are certainly overwhelmed with so many good things happening, which is a dramatic shift from just two months ago when we had our massive car crash and Uri's PhD defense back-to-back. Now, Uri has graduated with his PhD and is officially a Doctor of Philosophy! We are FIANCÉS, which is absolutely wild to say (I'm going to be a wife next year??). And Uri is beginning his cross country bike tour from France to Norway, and I'll be joining him in less than 2 weeks! I feel very fortunate in this time of my life.

So, here's to the next big adventures: our Europe bike tour and... marriage!

Thank you to our wonderful friends, Eve, Ben, and Peter, for helping pull off the scavenger hunt!