Amazing Race Party

A couple of weeks ago we got an invitation to an Amazing Race Party. The concept is simple, we'd be playing an Amazing Race style game. We accepted (of course) and on Saturday we proceeded to play. The FP Gal and I got teamed up with my longtime friend Jodi. This is pretty much the team I would have picked so it worked out well.
We started in Bloomington at one of the racer's house. They divided us into seven teams and gave us two bottles of water. They told us our first task was to drink all of the water. This was to encourage potty breaks along the way. Then we searched a park across the street for our first clue. We all found it and we were on our way to the State Capitol to meet a woman in a duck hat.
After quick discussion we took 494 to 35E and got off on Shepard Rd. Up through downtown and to the Capitol building. We got lucky and found the lady (and her hat) right away. She told us were the second team there and were on our way again.
The second clue had a math puzzle that sent us to Edina. To Centennial Lake. 35E to 494 and we were there. First team this time! Got a good parking spot and found the right place. This stop was a Detour with a choice of tasks, Mental or Physical. We choose Mental and regretted it immeadiatly. We were asked to recite the first 20 books of the Bible in alphabetical order, without using pen or paper. Instead we took a 15 minute penalty and tried the Physical task. The penalty provided a much needed potty break so it worked out well. The Physical task involved a long field and some legos. We had a model of a random lego pattern at one end and our legos at the other. We had to run back and forth recreating it. We left in first place (or so we thought!).
The next clue sent us to the Mall of America (MOA to cool people). We would get our next clue at Caribou Coffee. Problem is that there are three of them at the MOA. And the clue wasn't clear about what to do once we got there. We went to the third floor one first. We waited in line and asked the counter guy for a clue. He had no idea what we were talking about. Down to the first floor to try again. Pay dirt!
This clue kept us at the MOA. We were to find 10 out of state license plates and take our picture with them. Imagine three crazy people kneeling and laying down next to random cars while hopeful mall-goers drove past. That was us. Our prize find was one from Hawaii. Thank you Dr. Maki! We also had to buy Lightrail tickets and 'make our way' to Gameworks in downtown Minneapolis.
Bought the tickets, made another bathroom stop and took the train. A brief 35 minute ride later and we got off at Henepin Avenue. We spent the first part of the ride congratulating ourselves for (probably) still being in first place. Unless, we realized, someone had driven instead of taking the train. But that would be cheating, right? Anyway, off to Gameworks where we had to earn 50 tickets from one of the games. How about Skee-ball? This was the FP Gal's chance to shine. She quickly got our tickets and we were on our way.
On our way in third place. Someone (maybe two someones) had driven! Back on the Lightrail to Minnehaha falls park. Jodi made a call from the train to lodge a complaint about the driving and was told that no one had arrived yet. Was there still hope?
No there wasn't. We searched the park and found two other teams. They had already finished. So we went to the end. Almost limping near the end as we were all exhausted. Third place. (Well, maybe second as one of the teams did drive and may have been disqualified.) Anyway, we loved it and would do it again as soon as we rested up.