2007 St. Paul Winter Carnival Medallion -ACT II

Thanks to Redbear, mucluck and Leelabell. That was a very interesting thing to be a part of, and I really wish it could have been recorded.

I was in a park for 9 of the twelve days, and in the correct park 7 of the twelve days. The final three days that I was out I put in good efforts, and feel comfortable with that.

There seemed to be a lot more "team effort" this year and that was fun, and made the hunt fun. Thanks to all for bringing that back.

A lot of people don't "get" the hunt, or the involvement of people who do. There are a lot of great friendships, of varying degrees, which originated from this annual activity. I cherish each one, and especially how they grow each year.

Gotta get a plug in for geocaching. Some of you found a cache, or heard discussion about it, during the hunt. It's a great way to get to see, and discover parks throughout the year. If you have questions about it, ask me or Posen. He is doing a couple seminars in Roseville this year. His caches are fun to find too.

I have a geocaching forum on able minds:

There are a lot more threads that you can gain access to, by posting a message in the Welcome forum.

You paid your money to be here, how about hanging around awhile? Later ...

Thanks for the offer... but could you do lunch instead??? :wink:

My Goodness! I woke up to such a flurry!

I'm off to work- had a hard time sleeping, hope my pictures are in focus.

A few thoughts:

1) Yay! For it was found by avid hunters with clues and buttons and the right spirit.

2) The park will heal itself, it will snow, and smooth it out again, and come Spring and the snow melts it won't look like anyone was ever there with implements of destruction.

3) Shall be the count.

I thought it was a fun hunt regardless if it wasn't in Mounds. The explanations are always a let down but I did like the anagram one. I didn't think it was too far fetched. We've stretched things much farther than that before. Especially when making it fit our park. Thanks for the memories everyone. You all rawk!

LOVE THE HUNT And to all my new friends That NOW KNOW ME better I hope yourember me in the fact that next years hunt might be tough for work has allready called me and toled me to start looking how the FU@!dose that work I dont know I guess if you get Arpoved for vecation Do take it FOr THAT????? finger that one out if she wants????? now time to realy drink!!!! any one got a job for me and if I heard right is jake looking 2 maybe him and I can get a job then get the same time off LOL JK!!!!

Thank you to Redbear for getting this set up, for Mucky and Leelabell for being down at the line and being our Clue Mistresses. Thank you to everyone else for a fun second hunt. It was a good team effort.

I can't believe it wasn't found there sooner. I know OTIS and I spent about a half hour-hour in really close to there tuesday night, I'm sure countless others did as well.

Overall a good hunt, if not a little too vague but that was to be expected. The explanations are always terrible, so that is to be expected. I liked the anagram on clue 4, sure it was near impossible but it gives the anagram gang something to think about when they think they are wasting their time at 3:30 AM plugging in different combos of words into wordsmith.org.

I'm somewhat upset with myself for not knowing about the footbridge at the west playground, but there was what I thought was a footbridge on the east playground too (nearer the actual footbridge). There was also a large tree with split bark which fit the clue perfectly. I guess it was all for naught anyways.

The teamwork of the coolercrew is really going to improve our chances in future years I think, may coolerheads prevail!

now it's down to the next Winter Carnival activity--watch a high school kid play a trumpet at -10.

I guess this hunt shows how the medallion can be looked over many times. Jake, me2, marley, and myself were all digging there for a while, I especially focused on those trees because the clue said trees not woods. I swear I covered all fresh snow and tried to sift through everyone elses dug snow, yet no medallion. I statred to think someone had already found it and just did not turn it in.

I must look harder next year :smile:

Thanks for everything and all the memories of this hunt.

Soon enough the Cooler Crew will win again.

Its been great armchair-hunting with y'all this year! Enjoy the RHB and I hope to be there, for real, for the 2008 hunt.

Meanwhile, I'll see ya in the Shoot the Breeze thread!

Next year we'll do the conf. call so people like Eags can listen in from a distance.

We *could* record it, but it's super expensive - 10cents a minute a person. My call was 25 minutes, so that's 2.50 for just me, and I think there were 30-40 more people in and out.

I don't know if you went back to it, but it was actually just a bit east of where we were digging yesterday. We were in that collection of pines digging a lot, but this tree was kind of by itself. It was near that tiny patch of woods/trees that was up against the fence, all by itself. It wasn't really "into the trees", because the tree kind of stood alone in comparison to the other trees around there.

Redbear, that would be so cool! Thanks for thinking of that.

ot, you seem to be rather famous over there. and i have noticed that it appears we're gonna have several new additions to our crowd here for the 2008 hunt. very cooler!

I am going to head out there over lunch and take a look at the tree. I have to see this thing and know that either I missed it or tried my best. We were right there. My wife and I left the woods on the 11th clue and went into those trees as well. That medallion is tough to find when it is bare naked. Hopefully it is hidden in something next year.

Kitch, I think we used freeconference.com.

If you're going out there, look for where it may have been hidden (the little crack or crevice). Take pictures if you happen to have your camera with you.

For anyone asking about the rehash bash, please note the information regarding location, time and place is posted in the header here and at www.coolercrew.com

PMFP i love you Ian :smile:

tmk looked at me a few timezs last night like a was a complete stranger and bufoon.

:smile:)

Hubby and I have been sick with the worst cold ever, so we didn't even get to hunt this year! Oh, well. Maybe next year. Glad they did the second hunt.

Sorry about that, I was on the phone trying to hear all the chatter about the clue and if someone had found it or not. Plus the big thing was that my glasses were fogged up, so I couldn't tell who the heck was in front of me and talking to me.

its all good - havent seen you around much to give you my usual sh1t :smile:

I know, that's why I haven't been around. It stinks too much :wink: :goofy:

well, I'm glad I decided against taking a vacation day yesterday, would have been a waste.

AW, I see you lurking. What's the good word on your mock hunt?

Congrats to Jake and a big THANKS to the crew for letting me lurk and then throw out some ideas.

Looking forward to next year!

don't forget, we are here all year and do several mock hunts, check in once in a while :smile:

I think one attractive thing about being a part of ableminds here, and a reason why people should consider sticking around throughout the year is the mock hunts and community hunts. You get to have some fun with these, you can possibly win some money, you get to work on your noodling skills, you get to improve your knowledge of the parks and the communities. Something for people to consider!

I know AW has a mock hunt and hope to participate in it this year. I'll keep hanging around Able Minds so I can participate in any other hunts that come up.

Better renew my membership!

bwahhhh...

I just returned from the medallion hiding spot and the press was there taking photos. I did not have my camera, sorry. That tree was certainly dug up and had no snow around it for at least a few days. The puck must have been laying there amidst the leaves and chunks of snow unless it was actually hidden in the cracks of the split open part! If you go there you cant miss the tree, just do what the last clue says and it is right there! It is amazing one of us did not find it.

I gotta go there and get coordinates.

Haveta keep up on this stuff ya know.

To be honest, I've kind of resigned myself to the fact that this is what the hunt is going to be about. If the clues did guide you specifically to the spot, there would probably be a few clever people that would win it year after year. In order for it to be as big as it is, and be an activity and not a race, I think they have to be vague about the specific location. It's like they will narrow it down somewhat, but the winner will still be the lucky person that just happens on the right spot.

I do agree though about the 1st word, 2nd word, etc. anagram. That was awfully tricky with no hint at all that anyone should even be looking for such a thing.

I agree anyone who;d be able to figure that type of anagram out should be able to have the spot narrowed down. Not just the park name everyone had the park name why'd we need to figure out a hard ass anagram to get the same information.

Nice to see you last night. Your friend Ron Jeremy is a lot of fun. :smile:

I have written such letters in the past. Ironically, I thought they did a decent job with the clues this year. Of course I'm not thrilled with the explanations, but no one ever is. Did Boxmeyer ever comment on who wrote the explanations or if they were truly complete? I do know from my Mock Hunts that sometimes people come up with things that help them that I never intended, but not as much as what seems to happen in this case.

I guess at this point, my question is could this hunt have really been any better? We all love a good park debate and this one continued up to the end. We like a hunt that goes for a long time and at least this second one did. The clue explanations can seem frustrating because they don't guide you to the exact spot very well, but would you really want to spend the entire hunt worrying over every minute spent sleeping or socializing, that you were wasting precious time and that someone else might solve the puzzle before you? I think the vagueness gives the hunt a certain sense of leisure that allows us to have fun with it. I don't know if this has been the same cluewriter since 2002, but it seems to me that they're finally starting to hit their stride.

I **WHOLLY** agree that this is how they should hide the really obvious clues. Find a way to anagram them. Would make the end less of a mad dash. You'd see a whole bunch of hunters get their phone calls and then squat in front of fires with their pad and pen trying to find where the anagram is. :smile: Now that would be a battle of wits. :smile:

So that is where it was hiding. I got to the park about 15 or 20 minutes to 11 and there certainly were a lot of people still actively looking around in that area. I kind of dismissed it as being too close to those houses, but I guess I was wrong about that.

Did Neck start his new job today?

"Joyce Banken dug with a garden claw and five friends while hundreds of other hunters warmed themselves by a bonfire."

Does it ever sound like the writers of these articles are mocking all the hunters?

Seems to me that kinda statement makes ya think there's a buncha lazy hunters sitting around a fire while some persistant ones dig and find it.

Maybe I'm just too critical, but I always seem to spot comments like that in the finder articles.

I like that idea!

OT- was fun to hang our wiht you and 5 of your 7 kiddies too :smile:

ron says hi to you and your daughters :smile: bring them to the re hash he says :smile:

was fun time sharing clues with you this year as usual

how did the burr thing shake out?