Urban Dare Chicago

Leah and I participated in the Urban Dare Chicago and had a fantastic time.  Did we win...well, I will keep you quessing as we review our exhausting day...

Checked in at the Four Farthing Tavern on Cleveland, got our spiffy t shirts, team number #176, and waited until noon when all the teams (61) meet outside to get final instructions and get our Quiz sheets.  The Urban Dare is listed as part photo hunt, part trivia, part dares.  We like the description that it's a one day amazing race, following clues trying to finish ahead of other teams (BTW..We are Fans of the Amazing Race).  A team can use anything including calling for help (Kyle/Heather were anxiously waiting to assist along with Scott Z) and can use any public transportation, but NO Taxi's, cars, or bikes.

Got our sheets, out of the 12 Trivia items listed, we only knew where one location was on our own,,,," Get a picture with a statue of the first of the three characters that Dorothy traveled with on her journey to Emerald City."  Oz Park was just a couple blocks west so as we walked towards it, I called Kyle/Heather with one line to research for us, then called Scott Z with another, while I was calling/texting, Leah was using her I Phone to research another one.  Got to the park, found the statue, took picture.

These lines are trivia information, that we are to de-code, and then go to that location and either, take a picture of the statues/plaque indicated or complete the dare.

We also got our 5 minute bonus points, as we asked 5 people watching kids at a birthday party to pose as if they are all using a Bow and Arrow..

We headed north to West Belden near DePaul to pose by "Art Installation Pavane"

As we headed south, we also completed the photo hunt, "Get a picture of 2 people reenacting the famous WWII photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt.     Awesome!!!

Then we got 3 people to do the "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil."

We are really doing well, as we passed where we started, we saw some people still writing on their sheets, getting organized.  Around this time Leah proclaimed to me.."We are going to Win This!!" Wow, she had me convinced!

We went to the establishment that goes by the name of the book Robert Louis Stevenson wrote that has Long John Silver as a character.

Then we jumped onto the Train (I believe the Brown Line) and headed downtown.

Got off and then took a Bus, (I just follow Leah) and traveled down Chicago Avenue towards the lake.

 All day, people would ask what we were participating in, while on the bus someone said, "you are in a race, are you cheating?"  Which was funny but I guess it would seem that way. LOL.

Now things start to turn into a blur for me, we did all these things while downtown but I may have the order messed up.   I was like a little puppy just following Leah, with her unbelievable knowledge of the area and her wonderful I Phone.
We participated in the dare, at a park that has a playlot named after the person that created Eli's Cheesecake (Schulman) which is on Chicago avenue.
We took a picture in from of Eva's cafe (spanish version of the bible, she was the first woman on earth) and then took a picture of a statue of a man whom Streeterville is named after (417-19 E. Superior).

We took another Bus, #22 I believe and maybe on Clark Street.
We walked a looonnng way to the park that has a non working clock on the ground and did a three legged walk to complete the dare.  Now the only ones we have left, we are not completely sure about but hope we are right, as we walk to State Street.  The trivia question was a bit confusing and like participants on the Amazing Race know, sometimes you have slow down and read the line a couple times to really understand it.  The line said.."This leader was the first person to be made honorary citizen of the US, there is a plague at the corner that goes by his last name but honors someone else with the same name. First we thought the street was called Churchill??  Wait, then we decided mayber there was a building honoring someone with just the name Churchhill.   We were correct! Plaque on the corner of the building, phew.....

.no time to celebrate... time to walk west to Dearborn where there is another building with a plaque for the person who founded the Lone Scouts of America, later Boy Scouts.  Yes correct again!
And across the street was a Fire Station, where we had the last item that we just were not sure of.  The firemen outside the building confirmed where Engine 22 was located..unfortunately, it was back near Oz park..so we started to walk north, decided to take the subway back to as close as we could to our starting location.
Another mile or so walking left to do, and we trudged to a small park next to a Firestation on Armitage, I had to eat some whipped cream that contained a piece of gum in it, chew it, make a bubble..dare complete

Now back to Four Fatherings, where....... we saw other teams inside..  No, unfortunately we did not win the race, but we did finish in 3 1/2 hours and when I got the email today with the final standings...we were 25th place out of 64 teams.  Very satisfying!  The winning team RAN to everything (but they also had to take the L or something to get downtown)..and finished in 2 hours 17 min.  Pretty amazing time!

We both had a Great time, I think we made a Great team, and I am sure we were the ONLY IN-LAW team participating.   We had lots of laughs, I had lots of questions..."Where are we now?"  "What street are we looking for?"  "How much further do you think it is?"
THANK YOU to Scott Z, and Heather for all their help...you guys were fantastic!
One of the best lines uttered by leah, "I think I am going to lose my uterus."  With all the walking, probably about 10/12 miles total, Leah was really feeling the workout, as was I.  But really, it was a good hurt and next year WATCH OUT for the team of Harding & Harding!!