Twilight Town Trek

This weekend, Ben and I went down to Indy for their Twilight Town Treks adventure. This was our first of this kind, and I think the first year they've done it in Indy. So, we weren't exactly sure what to expect. It wasn't anything like the Urban Adventure races we've done in South Bend, we knew that. For one, it was not a bike race...purely on foot or public transportation. For another thing, you were allowed (actually, encouraged) to use GPS/cell phones/other technology to help you out, which was expressly forbidden in UA. Finally, whereas the UA race gave you a map with checkpoints to go to, this one just gave you obscure clues, and you had to figure out where you were going from those clues. If you didn't map them out very well, or mapped one incorrectly, you could end up wasting a lot of time backtracking. Not being all that terribly familiar with Indy, I feel like Ben and I weren't terribly efficient in our racing. But.... we finished it, hit all the checkpoints, and it was still fun.


For the most part, the checkpoints were "photo stops", meaning the clue described a place, and you had to go to that place and take a picture to prove you were there. There were a couple clues that had mini-tasks.... one was charades (Ben successfully acted out "The Princess Bride"), one was finding letters on trees and unscrambling them to make a word, etc.


The race started off at Scotty's Brewhouse downtown, where Ben and I grabbed a light dinner before the race started. (Our waiter asked us if the "Twilight" race had anything to do with the movie. I told him I was pretty sure they called it that because it took place in the evening. Thankfully, there were no vampires involved in this adventure.)

I didn't get much footage of us doing the race itself, but below are the photo stops.

Ben and I pre-race. Our shirts say "I heart Urban Adventure"..... "heart" being a drawing of an actual human heart. Clever, eh?

The first clue we made it to was an art structure near the Eli Lilly Faris II building. This sculpture is supposed to represent the Speedway.

This clue was in Spanish. Near the Convention Center off of West Street.

This clue took us to the IMAX building, where there are pieces of art representing each of the 92 counties in Indiana. We were to find the Johnson County artwork and get a picture of one teammate touching each piece of the installment.

At the State House, we were to get a picture of a team member shaking the tiny hand of this little guy.

To the Arts Garden, find a sign for a high-rise, get a picture with a team member next to each letter in the word RACE. Here's R.

A

C

E

Had to find a specific movie theater, get the name and time of the last movie playing that night, and get a picture at the ticket booth.

We had to find this address by solving a math formula (i.e., 356 + 64 - 87 + 9 - 112 + 297 / 4, etc. etc. The instructions were to get a picture of one teammate jumping in front of the business establishment. The logo had to be in the picture, and the teammate had to be in mid-air. Mid-air? I'd say he's practically on the roof?!

The "bonus" checkpoint, which got you 10 minutes off your final time, was to get random strangers off the street to spell out TREKS with their bodies. We stopped some people getting ready to walk into this bar, and they accommodated quite nicely. They were serious about it!

We had to find this "Brick Head" sculpture (which we finally did, thanks to our phone-a-friend. Thanks Mac!), and get a picture kissing a puppy.

On IUPUI campus, we had to find the statue of this guy, who was founder of the museum, squash player, numerous other things, and make the American Sign Language sign for his initial. His name was German G. Glidden. This was our last checkpoint!

Here's me on the bus ride after our last checkpoint, on our way back to Scotty's to the finish line! Not the most flattering picture, but I was exhausted!

Back at Scotty's, here's Heather and Beth.

Me and Ben, post-race.

Picture courtesy of Indy Metromix.

We drove back home Sunday morning, made it back just in time for a birthday party of one of Travis's classmates, then off to bowling night with Ben's co-workers. Long weekend, and a long week coming up with Kindergarten Meet & Greet, first day of school, and hopefully a trip to Curious Kids Museum next weekend.