... and now we Crawl!!

Well Leafcutters and I were a little bid nervous about the Skullduggery Pub Crawl. First of all, we are both nervous around 'new' people, it's not them it's us :) and secondly, we aren't drinkers. But the lure of amazing stamps and fun times had us sign up and really kept us motivated~

After our nap, we decided to walk to the Lyceum (the Crawl co-ordination starting point) because we wouldn't have to 1) hail a cab afterwards and 2) we could see some more of the town. We were early, as always, so walked around and waited and walked around some more. Finally we went into the Lyceum and found Gallant Rouge busily preparing the last minute details. After an awkward introduction (where I said Gallant Rouge (as in face color, lol!! and he said Rouge, as in curmudgeon) I though oh no, what have we done? But we soon felt at ease and met the rest of our team. I had met the rest of Team Mother Earth online, so finally meeting face to face was a great experience. Artzmom (Tiffany), Mother Earth (M.A.), and Chasinglulu (Lisa) were bubbly and fun! And I began to think, this Pub Crawl is going to be a fantastic time-- little did I know how right I would be. The other teams began filing into the Lyceum and we were eventually introduced to the rest of Team Mother Earth, Shell & Steve of Knights of Columbo, a husband and wife team from Virginia.

Soon it was time for the initial detective meetings. Everyone had a job to do, Tiffany was our spokesperson; M.A. our Accountant; Lisa our evidence technician; Steve our navigator and I was the historian. We were given a file containing the situation, it seems that there had been several murders of the investors in a business deal called WEDGI-- it was our job to figure out who was the murderer. Okay, cool enough. But we also had to drink.

Our team started the investigation- meeting at O'Connell's first. Here we met The Black Widow, a lovely woman. Sitting in a crowded front window table, we interrogated the suspect. Although the widow was cooperative, she reluctantly provided DNA. Drinks were enjoyed by all, after all it was the first stop. I was sure we would all slow down as we proceeded through the course. After noting the flower and beer bottle on the table, (which turned out to be valuable later) we were off to the next location.

The next location was Union Street Public House where we met Lord and Lady Dunnabuck. Both were quite charming and convincing in that fact that they did not commit the murder. Things began to come together, interrogations went well and we were off to the next location.

The third pub on the crawl was Bilbo Baggins pub. A little hole in the wall, that we all barely fit into. It was here we met El Inka, a visiting archaeologist from Equador. El Inka entertained us with his dazzling personality, quite a charmer. By now I was feeling a little tipsy as were the rest of our team. We pressed on!

A quick side trip led us to Gadsby's Ghost letterbox, and a chance to cooperate our clues thus far. Each suspect was very convincing in the fact that they were not the guilty party. I wasn't sure if we finding out all the information since my senses were a bit impaired. We needed to not only figure out the suspect but also find the location of the last pub- the final meeting place.

The fourth bar was King Street Blues, where we met Bebe and Coco. What a pleasure to it was to meet them both, although Bebe was beyond enjoyable. She was so funny and I could have stayed and talked to her all night- but there were other suspects to interrogate. I think we were all drinking at every pub we went to, so all I can say is the details became a bit fuzzy.

The next pub, was Pat Troy's. Here we met Crocodile Dave and his lovely wife. Chasing Lulu was intrepid interrogator, she pressed Crocodile Dave on the details, trying to get him to confess- it didn't work. It was time to move on.

The final pub on the crawl was Murphy's. It was here we met Captain Ken. Another charmer, we ended up staying here for a little while. I don't know how we figured out the final location, I was by now a bit drunk. All I know is we made our way to Chadwick's. It was there we were met by all the other Skullduggery teams. A round of exchanges and letterboxing chatter ensued while we ordered more drinks and dinner.

After a bit, Gallant Rouge ordered every team to submit their final suspect of the murder- our team chose Lord Dunnabuck. Which it turns out was correct!! Well every team got it correct so we had to go to a tie breaker- a quiz which was timed. Well I was chosen to take the quiz for our team. A bit nervous, I made my way to the quiz table. The questions were based on the bottles of beer and the flowers that were on each table we had visited that evening. I tried my best, but I was barely beaten by Lady Prisspot nee Hedge!! I had one question wrong, missing the fact that is was Sam Adams Pale Ale! Argh!!! Well second place wasn't too bad.

We ended up leaving around midnight, I was still a bit drunk. Dad and I walked back to our hotel, about a mile and collapsed into bed. I don't know how we made it back :)

Still feeling the effects the next morning we slowly drove home to PA.

It was a fantastic event, one I will never forget. All the participants went out of their way to make it enjoyable and really fun. We are looking forward to the next pub crawl.

...the morning of the Crawl

The day of the Crawl we woke up early, very early. So we decided to do a series of boxes in Georgetown called A letterboxer's Tour of Georgetown before the crowds of people woke up. We were in Georgetown by 5am, which was very nice. The city is beautiful at that time of the day.

Since a few of the box location were not open to the public at that time of the morning we decided to find the 'open' boxes. The first box we found was Oak Hill cemetery where we were met by a nice man walking his three dogs. It's always fun to try and look like you are doing something else when muggles approach you, I must have taken ten photographs before the dog-walking man finally left.

We skipped the next three boxes and headed straight to the Exorcist Steps. Now I have never seen the movie, I really don't like horror films so the steps were just steps, although they were a little creepy in their own right. It was just getting light out and there was no one around, and then Leafcutters left me to go back to the car and get the camera- so being left alone can be a tad bit frightening.

The next three boxes Francis Scott Key, Canton's Walk and Canal Square were all very well hidden and in interesting locations.

The final box The Old Stone House was hidden along the C & O Canal. This little park that runs along the canal was very nice. I am so used to seeing green all around me, we live on 11 acres- I can not imagine having this tiny strip of water and grass as my only green space. But if you know no other way, it was a great escape from the city life. The city was just starting to stir and so was the homeless man near the final box location. We had to keep a careful watch to make sure he wasn't watching us, but we found the box and were able to stamp in.

By this time, we headed back toward the hotel. But it was only 8:30am so we decided to sightsee some more- and went to Mount Vernon. I had read in the paper a few weeks ago about an exciting new exhibit at the museum where they had recreated what George Washington looked like at 19, 34 & 57 from forensic evidence. The new center was absolutely amazing!! I am not one for flag waving, but I was very touched by the whole exhibit. There was also a small theater depicting the beginnings of the American Revolution, which was awesome-- they had fog machines, seats that moved, and fake snow. Talk about feeling like you were a part of something.

By this time it was getting late (around 12pm) so we decided to skip the mansion tour, and head back to the hotel to catch a nap and get ready for Gallant Rouge's big event.

The day before the Crawl...

We had been planning the trip to Alexandria for months, we not months but weeks at least. Finally the day arrived!! Leafcutters and I bid farewell to Cactus (he was studying for exams) and hit the road. I figured that a few drive-bys on the way down might make the trip go faster. So we settled on two boxes that were located on I-95. Our first stop was I-95 Drive-By: Chesapeake House by Hikers & Hounds. We thought, 15 minutes tops- we'd use the potties, get some more coffee, find the box and be back on the road- WRONG!! Well it seems we don't know what a persimmon tree looks like. We wandered around for 30 minutes trying to find the box, until Leafcutters said-- "it looks like it should be right there", and it was.

Back on the road, our next box was to be at the Maryland House rest area, but it was missing and there were too many people milling around to make sure it was missing. So back on the road.

We drove straight through to Alexandria. We were there on Friday, a whole day before the Pub Crawl so we could enjoy the town and do a little sight seeing in the process. Since our hotel room wasn't ready, we set out to find the Lyceum.

If you have never been to Alexandria, Virginia I would suggest that you go!! It is truly a gem of a town, fantastic to walk around. We arrived at the Lyceum, a great building which once served as a hospital during the Civil War but is now a charming little museum on local Alexandria history.







Our next stop was The Torpedo Factory. The building was an old Ford plant that manufactured Torpedoes during WWII, it has since been turned into a delightful art center. There are three floors of artisans creating and selling their pieces. It was amazing to see! I wish I had brought my checkbook :)




We then headed over to the Carlyle House which was the historic home of John Carlyle and his family. Mr Carlyle was a contemporary of George Washington and the founding fathers. Much work has gone into restoring this home. When we arrived they were having a special exhibit commemorating the death of John Carlyle, including a fake body lying in his bed and a coffin laid out in the formal parlor. Very creepy but also very interesting.

By this time we were tired, and decided to get some Chinese food and head back to the hotel. I swear we fell asleep before 7pm.