After surviving a night of constant lightening, it was time to roll out of bed and play Least Dangerous Game. The sidewalks were now dry, but the humidity had been turned up a notch. Sweaty fun was sure to be had today! The clean kind of sweaty fun.
The hiding location for this week’s Least Dangerous was the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary located within the Twin Cities park system. Let’s go through the clues and see how people did.
Minnesota history: 1928
Minnesota native Arlene Dahl, star of movies such as Journey to the Center of the Earth and Ambush was born on August 11th, 1928. But that doesn’t point to any bird sanctuary. What is going on here?
She was born in 1928, but her clue is from 1950.
Oh, I see. She was in a movie called Watch the Birdie in 1950. Very tricky, Aric. Very tricky indeed.
What’s that hunhback yelling? I can’t hear him over the bells.
Some of you may have gone to the Basilica, but that was incorrect. The hunchback yells “Sanctuary,” of course. As in “bird sanctuary.
Celebrating 100 years
On the day of the game, the Wildflower Garden was celebrating its 100th anniversary. That two items of Minnesota came together on the same day for these clues was perfect.
At this point, Molly Bloom of Minnesota Public Radio called to find where I was so she could do an interview with me. She actually guess correctly! But since she wasn’t playing, her only reward would be a solid radio interview.
While waiting for Molly to show arrive, I sent out another clue.
Alvin and Simon love Mrs. Butter.
The garden was located on Theodore Wirth Parkway. Get it? Theodore? Worth? Wirth? Yeah, you got it.
At this point, Molly showed up and we began a pleasant and casual chat about Least Dangerous Game and quirky ideas in general. A lot of things were recorded, but we’ll see how much is used. I imagine something along the lines of 30 seconds. But it was a beautiful day out to be sitting and chatting with someone in some gardens. No complaints here.
I am lost in this Brazilian rainforest. Find me at 0831779535
The Amazon is the Brazilian rainforest! If you go to Amazon.com and look up sku 0831779535, you will find a book about wildflowers and birds. That’s one crazy clue, I tell you what.
This 13 acre site was preserved with an initial budget of $200.
Eloise Butler started her wildflower garden on 13 acres with a budget of only $200. I didn’t ask the reenacter that was there if this was true. I took the internet at its word.
Oldest public wildflower garden in the nation.
The last fact of interest before I was found. All of these history I didn’t know about before this week, let alone that a celebration was going on. There really is a lot of amazing stuff going on in the Twin Cities.
Then, the winners showed up!
It was Mike Janssen and Diana Rajchel again! Hooray for winning gift certificates!
After getting interviewed themselves, Mike, Diana and I went searching for cake. Because it isn’t a birthday party without cake.
And so wraps up this weekend of Least Dangerous Game. It was a beautiful if a bit humid day out, and I enjoyed myself while learning a lot.
Not to stress learning. No no, kids. You’re doing this for fun and gift certificates! See you in a few weeks!
You’re right, I showed up at the Basilica. It was strange: a wedding on one side, a funeral on the other. Figured you wouldn’t be in the middle of that.
We showed up at the Basilica too, chasing after the bells and 100th anniversary clue (the basilica is 100 years old this year too). Then we retreated to a coffee shop and continued our quest. The 100 years got us halfway there, found it on a random “100 years minneapolis” search but didn’t think about it too much. The Amazon number is what clenched it.