THE AMAZING RACE -- LAFAYETTE

My parents' 40th Wedding Anniversary was this weekend and my Dad decided to surprise my mother with the most unexpected thing he could think of. My Mom is a HUGE fan of The Amazing Race. She NEVER misses it. She even Tivo's it and watches the episodes over and over again. She is constantly saying that she wishes that she and my Aunt Joyce (her sister) could go on that show because she knows they could win. Well, after listening to that every week for the last 4 years my Dad decided to give her that wish for their anniversary. It took 3 weeks of planning and tons of people but he pulled it off. He staged an Amazing Race Lafayette and we played it today!! My Mom was so surprised that she was beside herself. It was my Mom and her sister, Jill and JB, Charles and Lauren, Eric and Kari, and me and Jenny Bates (Duane was not feeling up to the challenge). We had a blast!! The grand prize was $1000. Jenny and I came in third place. Mom and Joyce won (although I am convinced they received a little extra help). There were clues for 10 tasks that we had to complete and each team had a cameraman with them and we also had to carry a chicken with us wherever we went (more on that with details of the tasks below). Each team was given $100 to use to complete some of the tasks. We almost got the cops called on us at Home Depot (more of that below). It was truly a huge production and all the footage will be edited into a video for each of us to keep. I am so glad that I was able to participate in doing something that made my Mom so happy. My Dad loves my Mom so much. He did a great thing!! Now more on those tasks we had to complete below. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures at this time because there just wasn't time to take any. I will post them when we get copies from the production crew. We had to figure out what tasks were required of us by deciphering clever clues. I can't remember the clues anymore so I will just give the tasks.

Task #1-Go to Home Depot and find a toilet item number that was assigned to your group and call in with that correct number and get the next clue. Do you know how many toilets Home Depot carries?? Do you know that if you go into a Home Depot with a camera crew they will call the cops?? Well, we know now.

Task #2-Go to Hobby Lobby and find a wicker basket with the item number that was assigned to your team and purchase it. The lines were 15 people deep and 8 registers long but Jenny was clever and showed people our clue with The Amazing Race logo on it and people let her cut in line but we were still delayed because they had the get change for her $100 bill.

Task #3-Go out to a large church in Broussard. When we got there Jenny had to go inside a huge fun jump and gather what was inside while I held the basket we got at Hobby Lobby. What was inside the fun jump?? Chickens!! Jenny grabbed the smallest and meekest of the bunch and I held it down in the basket while we ran back to the car.

Task #4-Go to the Natural History Museum and find out what served as Lafayette's first port and what year the reigning beheaded king died. I actually stole this answer from Kari and Eric as I overheard them trying to call the answer in. I was able to call it in first!! Kari was not amused.

Task #5-Buy a fish. We went down Johnston to Albertson's and Jenny got out and bought a catfish for 96 cents. We probably could have saved time by staying downtown but we didn't know where to get one downtown. Two other groups went to Tsunami, one to Cedar Grocery, and one to pinhook Walmart. The fish was smelly...but so was the chicken.

Task #6-Go to a fish pond in Broussard and fish for 12 inches of fish. We were the next to last to get there and all the poles were taken so we had to wait. The fish weren't biting very well so they moved us on to the next task by staggering us every three minutes according to when we arrived.

Task #7-Take a picture with Santa. Well, we were in Broussard and we knew we couldn't make it to the Acadiana Mall and wait in line for Santa in the time allowed so we went to the Broussard Albertson's and took a picture with a popcorn can that had Santa on the front. We used my cell phone. It's my screensaver now.

Task #8-Go to the Rokhaus and climb the rock wall. Ok...this is where it gets hairy for our team. So far Jenny had done most of the challenges that required just one person so she promptly handed me the release form to climb the rock wall. I was not happy but I had said earlier that I was not going to be high maintenence. When we got there, the first thing I asked the guy was if my weight was going to have to be disclosed at any point. He said no but I was still skeptical about the whole thing. When he handed Jenny and me our harnesses, I knew then and there that it wasn't going to work. He had let them out all the way and they were still TINY! We tried to get them on and gave up around mid-thigh. It wasn't going to happen. Why? Simple. Because fat people don't climb rocks so why should the harnesses fit them. Since we couldn't complete the task we had to wait until the team that came in after us was done. Bummer.

Task #9-Leave your car at Rokhaus and lock it. Find alternative transportation to Vermillionville (reproduction Acadian village) with chicken and cameraman in tow. Jenny lives two blocks from Rokhaus so we called her husband and told him to throw the kids in the van. We started down Johnston street to meet him half way. I never thought I'd be walking on Johnston with a chicken and a cameraman. Her husband picked us up and we made our way to Vermillionville.
I paid the $24 admission fee for the three of us and Jenny sneaked the chicken in. We had to go all the way to back of Vermillionville to the chapel. Once there, we were given an envelope with tiny words cut up in it. We had to put together The Lord's Prayer. Of course, we knew it but it was tedious finding all the words and putting them in order.

Task #10-Go to the Town Square at River Ranch to end the race. When we got there we were in 4th place but Jill and JB were having trouble putting symbols of our completed tasks in order so we finished before they did and took 3rd place. We didn't win $1000 but we had a blast! I can't wait to see the edited tape!

Happy 40th Anniversary Mom and Dad!!