When I solved the riddle in Clue #1, I knew that my first destination was Questar – the company where my dad worked for over 30 years, and where a good friend of mine from law school – Cory – also worked. Four years earlier, Questar had provided the natural gas to power the Olympic Flame during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic {the “firey star for the world”} referenced in the clue. From the riddle, I knew that Cory would have the next clue.
Questar was located only a block away from my office, so I walked over there and made my way to Cory’s office, where he gave me another small envelope with the second riddle inside. This riddle had the letter “L” at the top.
I solved the riddle in Clue #2, and started to walk across downtown to the office of Kuhn, Carnes & Anderson, the boutique law firm where I worked throughout undergrad and my first year of law school. During my time there, I had the opportunity to help with preparations for a case that the attorneys argued before the Wyoming Supreme Court {the “Supreme experience” referenced in the clue}.
The next envelope was with one of the partners at the firm, and inside was the third clue, with the letter “O” at the top.
After solving Clue #3, I determined that I needed to get in my car and drive to the University of Denver {where Scott and I met}. The riddle told me that I would need to go to the Student Involvement Center in the Driscoll building {the university’s student union with a large glass bridge – the “glass house” – spanning Evans Avenue}. This was a place where both Scott and I spent countless hours getting to know one another during college, while working for various student organizations.
The clue at DU was very had to find, because the girl that was supposed to give me the clue had gone home early {she was pregnant, nearing her due date, and not feeling well}. She had left the envelope for me in the middle of a table in her office, but her office was locked. I finally found someone willing to unlock her office and allow me to get my next clue, which was mark with the letter “V” at the top.
Clue #4 led me south of DU, to my friend Corrie’s {“corE”} office in the Tech Center {not to be confused with the Cory who gave me clue number 2}. It was now the start of rush hour, so it took me quite a while to get there, especially because of the major highway construction project on I-25, known as T-REX {the “path of the dinosaur”}.
The riddle in Clue #5 was the most difficult for me to solve. I sat in the parking lot thinking about it for quite a while before finally realizing that my next destination was to the home of my friends, Holly and Russ. Holly and I were law school classmates, but she had attended undergrad at Rice (the Owls) and her husband was an alum of Harvey Mudd (whose mascot is Wally the Wart).
Holly and Russ live in Arvada, on the north west side of Denver – in the opposite corner of the metro area from the Tech Center where I had picked up Clue 5 from Corrie, so it was quite a drive in rush hour!
Clue #6 led me to Columbine High School, which both Scott and I attended – although we didn’t know each other at the time {I graduated the year before him, and despite many mutual friends we didn’t end up meeting until college}.
From the riddle, I knew that Scott’s mom, Karen, would have my next clue when I arrived. She worked as the secretary to Columbine’s then principal, Frank DeAngelis {the “significant Italian influence”}.
It took me quite a while to drive down to Columbine on the south side of town. When I got there, Scott’s mom was waiting for me and gave me my next envelope, with the seventh clue, marked with an O.
After solving the riddle in Clue #7, I determined that my next stop would be my parent’s new house, which they were just moving in to. Fortunately, their house is not far away from Columbine. When I got there, my mom and dad acted as if they had no idea what the scavenger hunt was about or where my clue might be.
Although I had never lived at this house with my parents, I suspected the clue would be in the room referred to as “my room” because it had the furniture that was mine growing up.
When I arrived at the front door of my condo {at about 8 pm–6 hours after this all began}, there was another clue–Clue #9–sitting in the wreath on my front door.
The card inside contained instructions telling me to go inside, and that once inside I was not turn on any lights and not to open the blinds or any doors. The instructions also said that I still had work to do and that I would have to organize the stacks that I would find inside to uncover the final clue.
My heart was pounding because I knew that I had to be nearing the end of the scavenger hunt, and I highly suspected that Scott was nearby and that a proposal was impending, but I didn’t know what to expect when I opened the door.
When I got inside it was dimly lit, and there were candles everywhere! There was a single red rose on the kitchen island and a larger vase of flowers on the coffee table. There was also a big stack of presents on the coffee table.
Throughout the scavenger hunt, each clue had a letter at the top. In order the clues spelled out “I LOVE YOU!” and these same letters were capitalized on in the clue on front door.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that each present was marked with one of these letters on the top, so I arranged the presents in order, lining them up on the couch to spell out “I LOVE YOU!”
I looked around, unsure if I should open the presents, or if I was supposed to wait for Scott. But the clue said my next task should be self-explanatory, so I sat down and slowly started to unwrap the gifts… a necklace, the book “1000 Places to See Before You Die”, a season pass to the Denver Art Museum, an interior design book about lofts… pretty much all of my favorite things! Man, did this guy know me, or what?!
Eight gifts later I arrived at an envelope with a “!” on it. Inside the envelope was a card with my final instructions.
As I walked out onto the balcony Scott dropped down on to one knee {since he’d given me the camera, I felt it was only right to take a picture of the moment}.
At long last, the moment the whole day had been leading to!!! Scott asked me to marry him, and then presented me with the gorgeous ring that he had picked out!
Of course I said YES!!!! Scott then put the ring on my finger and we snapped a selfie {before selfies were even a “thing”} to commemorate the occasion!
We then went inside to toast to our engagement!
