Rocket Race Recap
As I mentioned on Saturday, mutarada, brianrubin, the LJ-less Todd (aka Autobot) and I participated in the 3rd Annual San Diego Rocket Race yesterday. The Rocket Race is hosted by jawajames . We had a blast! Even if my body is hurting a bit today. Our team finished in 4th place this year, up from 7th place last year. We were impressed with our finish this year, and look forward to next year.
The Rocket Race is a bit like a sci-fi themed Amazing Race. We have clues to solve, and have to move from location to location until we reach the finish line. It's a lot fun, and I wanted to share with you how the day went.
Starting Point
We met up at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, home of Star Trek: The Exhibition. A fitting start spot for a sci-fi based race. Our team captains lined up, our clues laid out about 100 feet away, the starting gun was fired, and we were off!
Our team captain made his way back to us with our clue, which we solved in short order. The clue listed out some Star Trek trivia, and once we answered correctly, we got a list of letters that, descrambled, spelled out our next location:
Balboa Park Club
The first clue turned out to be the hardest for us, as some teams shot out of there quickly (within 15 minutes), while we were stuck on it for almost an hour! We had a puzzle to decode - we had to figure out which of the pictures we were looking out, with some letters under the pictures - were the correct pictures. If we would have remembered the big banners at the Air and Space Museum entrance, we would have had this one quickly. (Note to self: jawajames likes banners!). Once we figured this clue out, it was onto our next location:
Richmond Street over Hwy 163
This is a dead end of an off ramp (really odd - it used to go onto the freeway, but doesn't anymore). So, there is a little cult-de-sac at the top of the exit. There was a police officer sitting here - we're not sure why - and the curb is all red, so we all had to drop teams off and drive around until the clue was recovered. The clue, of course, was a map - and I was the one driving! So I wasn't nearby. But, the guys had a good idea where we were going, but we utilized a little extra credit clue to make sure we were headed to the right spot. We drove to the Morley Field Frisbee Golf Course to verify our location, and it was off to the next spot:
Stadium Golf Club
We arrived here in short order, and grabbed our clue. Just as we started reading our clue, another team showed up, so we took off quickly. (Sadly, we didn't see them behind us at the next clue, so they ended up in front of us at the clue after!). It was a series of photographs, and we had to figure out our next location based on the photographs:
Parks
We ended up at two different parks. These clues were fun. The first clue had us go to the park on the west side of a canyon. From a playground platform, you could see someone across a canyon, holding an umbrella. You had to figure out how to find this person, without crossing the canyon (the canyon is part of the former Camp Elliot, and there is still unexploded ordnance in the canyon. Once you took the drive around the block, you then had to find just the right trail to get you to the mesa our person was standing on. Once there, we got another clue, that, when decoded, took us to our lunch spot, and our one hour break:
Lunch
Our one hour lunch stop found us in sixth place, just seconds in front of one of our 'rivals', and behind the first and second place teams by almost an hour! It was fun to break and relax, and enjoy the company of our fellow racers. The hour was up quick, and we were back at it in short order, going to our next spot:
Old Town
Our clue to get here was a lot of fun. It was a series of directions, all out of order. But, you had to look for landmarks, so it wasn't as easy as just decoding order and taking a straight line there. We zig-zagged throughout a bunch of areas, until we made it there. We arrived with two other teams, and once we saw where one team came running from (assuming they had the clue), we ran over and picked up our next clue. Our rivals were right there with us, and we both zoomed away quickly to our next location:
Corner of Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway
We were neck and neck with our rivals, and drove down Pacific Highway together. It was actually quite fun, as one team would get in front of the other (safely, of course), and taunt each other at stoplights. (In all fairness, we worked together with our rivals quite often). We made it to the corner, and, armed with the clear overlay we received at the last clue, we figured out our next location:
USS San Diego Memorial
I had no idea this was here, and it was really neat to visit. Probably my favorite clue, because of the big map of the Pacific on the ground. Also, the most educational clue as well. Once we figured out our next location, we headed there:
520 Ocean Drive, Coronado
Well, 519 Ocean Drive does exist, but 520 is actually the beach! We ran out to the beach, and discovered an 'alien crash site', which requied us to dig up 5 alien bodies. Once dug up, we got our clue. It took a little while to decode, but once we did, we were off to our next location:
Grand Caribe Shoreline Park
Hidden behind a little alcove was our clue giver, who informed us this was the last clue of the day! We grabbed the clue, which was just a photograph. We had to figure out where this photograph was, as it was our final location:
Final Location
We drove to the first location was thought of (which wasn't it), and then drove to the final location. We parked in the wrong place, and ran a long way to the final location. Had we parked right next to the clue, I think we would have finished higher in the standings.
As it turns out, we were the fifth team to arrive (almost an hour behind the first two teams), finishing in just under 6 hours. The third team to arrive, however, had a time penalty, which allowed us to end up in fourth place, just moments behind our 'rivals'. We had a BLAST running this, and can't wait for next year!
Edit to add: Photos!
The Rocket Race is a bit like a sci-fi themed Amazing Race. We have clues to solve, and have to move from location to location until we reach the finish line. It's a lot fun, and I wanted to share with you how the day went.
Starting Point
We met up at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, home of Star Trek: The Exhibition. A fitting start spot for a sci-fi based race. Our team captains lined up, our clues laid out about 100 feet away, the starting gun was fired, and we were off!
Our team captain made his way back to us with our clue, which we solved in short order. The clue listed out some Star Trek trivia, and once we answered correctly, we got a list of letters that, descrambled, spelled out our next location:
Balboa Park Club
The first clue turned out to be the hardest for us, as some teams shot out of there quickly (within 15 minutes), while we were stuck on it for almost an hour! We had a puzzle to decode - we had to figure out which of the pictures we were looking out, with some letters under the pictures - were the correct pictures. If we would have remembered the big banners at the Air and Space Museum entrance, we would have had this one quickly. (Note to self: jawajames likes banners!). Once we figured this clue out, it was onto our next location:
Richmond Street over Hwy 163
This is a dead end of an off ramp (really odd - it used to go onto the freeway, but doesn't anymore). So, there is a little cult-de-sac at the top of the exit. There was a police officer sitting here - we're not sure why - and the curb is all red, so we all had to drop teams off and drive around until the clue was recovered. The clue, of course, was a map - and I was the one driving! So I wasn't nearby. But, the guys had a good idea where we were going, but we utilized a little extra credit clue to make sure we were headed to the right spot. We drove to the Morley Field Frisbee Golf Course to verify our location, and it was off to the next spot:
Stadium Golf Club
We arrived here in short order, and grabbed our clue. Just as we started reading our clue, another team showed up, so we took off quickly. (Sadly, we didn't see them behind us at the next clue, so they ended up in front of us at the clue after!). It was a series of photographs, and we had to figure out our next location based on the photographs:
Parks
We ended up at two different parks. These clues were fun. The first clue had us go to the park on the west side of a canyon. From a playground platform, you could see someone across a canyon, holding an umbrella. You had to figure out how to find this person, without crossing the canyon (the canyon is part of the former Camp Elliot, and there is still unexploded ordnance in the canyon. Once you took the drive around the block, you then had to find just the right trail to get you to the mesa our person was standing on. Once there, we got another clue, that, when decoded, took us to our lunch spot, and our one hour break:
Lunch
Our one hour lunch stop found us in sixth place, just seconds in front of one of our 'rivals', and behind the first and second place teams by almost an hour! It was fun to break and relax, and enjoy the company of our fellow racers. The hour was up quick, and we were back at it in short order, going to our next spot:
Old Town
Our clue to get here was a lot of fun. It was a series of directions, all out of order. But, you had to look for landmarks, so it wasn't as easy as just decoding order and taking a straight line there. We zig-zagged throughout a bunch of areas, until we made it there. We arrived with two other teams, and once we saw where one team came running from (assuming they had the clue), we ran over and picked up our next clue. Our rivals were right there with us, and we both zoomed away quickly to our next location:
Corner of Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway
We were neck and neck with our rivals, and drove down Pacific Highway together. It was actually quite fun, as one team would get in front of the other (safely, of course), and taunt each other at stoplights. (In all fairness, we worked together with our rivals quite often). We made it to the corner, and, armed with the clear overlay we received at the last clue, we figured out our next location:
USS San Diego Memorial
I had no idea this was here, and it was really neat to visit. Probably my favorite clue, because of the big map of the Pacific on the ground. Also, the most educational clue as well. Once we figured out our next location, we headed there:
520 Ocean Drive, Coronado
Well, 519 Ocean Drive does exist, but 520 is actually the beach! We ran out to the beach, and discovered an 'alien crash site', which requied us to dig up 5 alien bodies. Once dug up, we got our clue. It took a little while to decode, but once we did, we were off to our next location:
Grand Caribe Shoreline Park
Hidden behind a little alcove was our clue giver, who informed us this was the last clue of the day! We grabbed the clue, which was just a photograph. We had to figure out where this photograph was, as it was our final location:
Final Location
We drove to the first location was thought of (which wasn't it), and then drove to the final location. We parked in the wrong place, and ran a long way to the final location. Had we parked right next to the clue, I think we would have finished higher in the standings.
As it turns out, we were the fifth team to arrive (almost an hour behind the first two teams), finishing in just under 6 hours. The third team to arrive, however, had a time penalty, which allowed us to end up in fourth place, just moments behind our 'rivals'. We had a BLAST running this, and can't wait for next year!
Edit to add: Photos!