BRAINERD — The list of things that will get me out of bed before 10 a.m. on my day off is short.
But apparently a treasure hunt is on that list. Am I glad that I got up early on the Fourth of July, put on my tennis shoes and went out to Rotary Park only to encounter a snake (my biggest phobia) on the trail and be bested by another treasure hunter just seconds after I walked past the prize without seeing it? The jury is still out on that one. Ask me again when the wound isn’t so fresh.
A new addition to this year’s Fourth of July festivities in Brainerd and Baxter was a treasure hunt. Similar in nature to the medallion hunt put on by Brainerd Community Action for St. Patrick’s Day, the event set eager hunters out and about in the two cities, searching for a prize that would win them $250 in cash.
One clue came out each day on Facebook, beginning at the close of Arts in the Park on June 30 and continuing right up to the morning of Thursday, July 4. My friends and I were on the hunt from the beginning. We sat on a bench at Gregory Park, eagerly awaiting the first clue as Arts in the Park wound down.
I checked back every day, taking another friend or two with me to a new location where we thought the clues pointed. I ventured out on my own on the last day, not even my early rising boyfriend wanting to get up at 8:30 a.m.
to go hunting with me. And perhaps that was my downfall. Perhaps I needed one more brain and set of eyes with me to find the elusive treasure, which I ca.
