We let Anthony's February 20 birthday come and go without much fanfare, meanwhile planning a surprise weekend for the old chap. We drove down to Rhode Island early Saturday morning and knocked on his front door. He was quite surprised when Merwin snuck in and we waved hello. His mom and dad showed up to babysit for the day while we told him to get in the car. He didn't know what we were up to, but we drove north to Boston and kicked off the celebration with a guided tour of the Italian food mecca, Eataly.
What's Eataly? An insanely amazing three floors of markets (think pasta, fresh cheeses, wine, bread, chocolate, pastries), cafes, and a cooking school. We tasted pasta, gelato, still warm from the oven focaccia, chocolate bread, homemade chips, and an array of scrumptious cheeses. Glorious. After killing some time playing hearts (Simon won, what a shocking surprise), we jumped in a cab for our next stop.
Trapology was Simon's find and I think Tony was a bit apprehensive when we took the narrow flight of stairs then signed a liability waiver. Gulp. It wasn't until we watched a video explaining the rules that he knew what we were up to. In an escape room situation, you get "locked" into a room with 60 minutes to complete the mission. In this case, the scenario was we were glamping and were tasked with determining what happened to missing guests then call for help.
We found ourselves in a dark room made to look like an inside of a tent. We thought that was it, but with each subsequent clue we solved, more and more rooms opened up with more and more tasks to complete, boxes to open, and locks to unlock. A seemingly endless puzzle of deciphering and using everything around us to put the pieces together. We were "this close" to beating the clock but fell just short. However, it was an amazing hour of puzzle solving and teamwork. It felt like we each brought something different to the table, our skills blending nicely as we moved our way through the clues and the room. We all agreed we want to try it again.
Following a delicious meal at Al Forno in Providence we concluded the celebration with Black Panther at the local movie theater. (That movie is awesome. See it.) It was such a special treat to spend the day with these two on an adventure. We'll have to "escape" again soon!
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