King Of Prussia Escape!

Winters in Montana get pretty doggone cold.

Anticipating a bit of cabin fever by mid-February, Julie booked flights for us to warm up with hugs from our the east coast contingent of our family.

A flurry of fresh snow made driving through the canyon into Belgrade a bit more challenging than usual, but we made it to the airport.  After de-icing the plane's wings, we departed on time, connected through Dallas and arrived at PHL Airport late the same night.

Gina, Laszlo and Emma always make us feel welcome, and Amy drove down from Jersey City for the President's Day three-day weekend.

So, mission accomplished.  Lots of warm fuzzies from our loving family.

The weather was definitely warmer than Big Sky, where it is a few degrees below zero Fahrenheit for our first day back.  While 62 the first couple of days would not hold, the weather was never too cold to take long walks, though one time Julie, Emma and I turned around a few times when it started to sprinkle, then quickly abated.

Of course, it is that rain that makes all the plant life so vibrant in the spring.  Leaves were starting to sprout, and some small crocuses had begun to bloom.

We shared lots of meals, including the first time I have actually gone to a Chinese takeout restaurant other than Panda Express to bring home dinner.  I won't say Szechuan Lei Lei will be winning a Michelin Star anytime soon...or ever...but it seemed to give us all something we liked.

Amy was able to get Killer Tofu --- not the actual name of the dish --- while I had Hawaii Five-O, which combined every kind of meat and seafood normally included in any Chinese food including pork, shrimp, beef, chicken, crab and lobster --- I count Six, but the name referred more to the flavor.  

The others had more what I would call typical Chinese take-out, suitable for the crew of Seinfeld or some other TV show set in a cool city locale.  Gina had Egg Fu Young, Laszlo had Beef with Broccoli while Julie had stir-fried rice with chicken, but Emma has been on a jag of preparing meals very early in the morning and being done with meals before afternoon.

This being our family, there were lots of games involved, including Yahtzee, Bridge, Set, Pool and Uno Hearts.

The big event referenced in the title of this post was the "Gold Rush" at The Escape Game in King of Prussia, which is close to Valley Forge.  I thought it might have been named in honor of General Friedrich Von Steuben, who drilled General George Washington's troops at Valley Forge in the Prussian style, converting a ragtag militia into a formidable opponent to the British regulars.

According to King of Prussia Courier newspaper, the town was named after a tavern established by a Prussian immigrant perhaps 50 years before Von Steuben arrived at Valley Forge.

In any case, that bit of history had little to do with our escape experience.  We had a fun time sorting through clues, with our granddaughter Emma revealing many key pieces of the puzzle.  Everyone contributed to reaching the finish, with multi-game veteran Amy providing some encouragement to help myself and the others.

I won't give anything away, but I can say that the game monitor said we were an impressive crew, requiring only three hints to finish with 53 seconds to spare.

When we flew home, we knew we would arrive in early evening to snow.  The plane came down through the clouds and seemed to skid a bit side to side for the first seconds after we touched down, but we didn't go off the runway despite ice and snow.

Julie had made the very good suggestion to get a new window scraper at Ace Hardware before we left, and I insisted on splurging for the one with a brush and long handle, similar to the one I used for forty years.  Julie said I took 40 minutes to return from the parking lot, most of which was cleaning the windshield rear window, although I did have to take an extra lap around the small airport lot when I found the arrivals are was much better for summer days than a winter's night.

I wasn't prepared for roads to be so icy beneath several inches of snow.  I definitely felt the frozen tires failing to grip on several occasions as we made our way through town.

Nonetheless, we stopped at Albertson's Grocery Store to pick up some provisions for the week and headed toward Big Sky.

We almost turned around when we found 20 mile per hour winds blowing snow across the slick road and onto our windshield, impairing our vision and making a straight line difficult to drive,

I'm happy we carried on, because when we reached the canyon, we had considerably better visibility thanks to mountains blocking the side winds to some extent.  It would have been harder to turn around and find a hotel.

We thank God for providing us with a nice visit with family and safe travels.