The ESCAPE ROOM

 Have you done one?  Do you want to do one?  GO DO ONE!

Jessi decided for her 40th birthday that she wanted ALL of the 8 adults to get together and do something without the kids - this is a rarity because for so many years, the kids were young enough they all had to have sitters and these days it's not easy to find sitters, let alone the cost for them!

So she picked out something we have all read about and at least me, thought about doing - an Escape Room!  We were all beyond excited!

Since we had to bring Gwyn home anyway, it worked out perfectly.  Jaime, Brad and Kylan rode up with us in our car (thank you Jaime for driving) and we went early enough that Gwyn could spend a little time with her mom and dad, since she'd been at our place for 3 nights!

All 8 of us piled in the Keppys' large expedition and we headed to The View House for lunch - what fun getting together with the kids and enjoying time together!  

We ordered a variety of different meals and it was all great!  Lots of glass in this place and we were up on the second floor which made it nice!

3 of the guys decided they wanted to have a shot of whatever before we headed to the Escape Room!

But we corralled them for a picture before we headed out!

And then it was off to the Escape Room!!  Before the gal sent us in, she told us the rules - Jessi had chosen the themed room - Rock and Roll - perfect for us girls who all love music!  The gal asked us if any of us knew how to run a record player - uh, that would be me - guess that ages me huh?

So we headed in the room and she locked the door behind us!  It was like NOTHING I had imagined in my mind - it was definitely a 60's vibe in the room with all sorts of clues and locked items.  Between the 8 of us, we all started looking around and picking up items and trying to find clues!

I had visions of taking pictures but that sure didn't happen - you know you're on a time clock and every second counts - at times it was stressful and almost frustrating but then when we would discover a clue and unlock something, we were all cheering and happy!!

I did have to put a couple of albums on the turntable and figure out the clues - I had to laugh when Gary walked over and asked how I knew where to put the needle for the 2nd song on the album!!  The song title was scratched off but there was a clue on the 2nd song!  Putting it with another clue on another album's 2nd song gave us the combination to open another locked item!

If you get completely stumped, you can ask for a clue - and the gal said don't be afraid to ask for a clue because if you wait too long, there's no way you will ever finish!  We all got completely stumped for a while so asked for a clue and with that clue (which came up on the television screen - there are cameras in the room as they watch you) we were able to solve that particular piece easily!

We were ecstatic when we placed a final item in its place and a secret door opened!!!  There was either 15 or 20 minutes STILL LEFT!!!  But then our feelings turned to despair as we realized we had ANOTHER entire room to solve the clues in!!

This room seemed even harder ( and there were no lights - just a portable lamp head) - we asked for another clue that definitely helped us along and we're running back into the other room to check the tv (that's where it had a time clock on how much time we had left) and we were all frantic!  When we unlocked the final clue, we had NO IDEA what to do with an item so Gary run back in the other room and asked for a final clue - we got it, punched in the numbers and we were OUT!!!!!!  Oh my gosh - we were whooping and hollering and could hardly believe that we MADE IT OUT!!  Jessi had looked up the percentage rate on this room of how many people solved it and it was only 25%!!

It seemed the clock ran a little slower at the end and the gal did tell us that since we were so close, she gave us an extra 5 minutes!  So between that extra 5 and the 3 clues, we were champions!!

We're all holding clues from the room!!

And Jessi thought to take a picture of the tv screen - how cool is that? (with 53 seconds left)

We were all still on Cloud 9 when we headed out to the car!!  And you can bet we talked about it all the way home!

One last picture of us in Jessi's back yard - full of beautiful sunflowers!

Are you ready to do an Escape Room now????  I'll warn you - it's not cheap - and it's definitely hard - but it's SO WORTH it to do it once in your life!  And if I ever have another opportunity, I will do it again!!