Date: GetOut Games

Last month we finally got to try out Getout Games!  If you haven't heard of live escape rooms, Wikipedia defines it more clearly than I could: "Real-life room escape games are a type of physical adventure game in which people are locked in a room with other participants and have to use elements of the room to solve a series of puzzles, find clues, and escape the room within a set time limit." Does that not sound AWESOME?!?! And happily, Getout Games lived up to its reputation.

Seriously, this concept is something that I would have totally daydreamed about but never thought actually existed. I've always loved puzzles and riddles, so when we heard about this we knew it would have to be a bucket-list item we would actually accomplish. And we made it a reality!

My former roommate and her husband, and El's brother and his fiancee, joined us, making a group of six. I can't describe the experience in too much detail—spoilers!!—but here was the backstory provided to us when we started:

Provo's underground mafia boss, Crazy Coz, has recently gone missing. Everyone in Provo knows he must be sitting on a nice sized pile of cash. The question is: where is he hiding it? 

You and your team will be need to search Coz's office. You'll have 60 minutes to locate his hidden safe, crack the code, steal his stash, and make it out in time.  Along the way, you'll encounter numerous locks, puzzles and activities that you'll need to complete before you can piece together the final combination. Be aware that there is another group that will be working just as hard to beat you to the money. You'll be racing the clock as well as this other team to successfully complete the heist.

 So there was another group of six there, too, and they were put in another identical room. For the first twenty minutes we felt like we were flying through the puzzles, and then we got stuck for a while and I felt like I was nervously checking the clock like every two minutes. I really liked that everyone was able to contribute to the puzzles; I didn't feel like anyone dominated or wasn't able to help. Finally, we opened the safe—and could see and hear the other team through the back of the safe, opening their own safe! We rushed to exit the room, asking for our last "hint" (you can request up to four), and burst out of the door, gold in hand, not much more than three minutes before time was up and just about thirty seconds before the other team! That was exhilarating. (...I love winning.)

I was really proud of my team and just had a great time overall. Definitely something that gets your heart rate up. Highly recommended!

-Owlet

Date: Galilee Grill

We actually know the owner of Galilee Grill, Ehab—he's in our stake. We LOVE his food! I don't know where else you can even get authentic Middle Eastern food in Utah. This restaurant and Green Panda Cafe are our favorite lesser-known places to eat.

A few weeks ago, we got a lamb shawarma plate and a chicken shawarma plate (the plates come with a little salad and some hummus and a piece of pita bread). They were both delicious, and we especially liked the yogurt sauce on top. We also got a side of kibbeh, which El describes as being "like hush puppies made with falafel."

It was seriously awesome. The place is packed on Fridays, though. They're pretty new and have become popular in a super short time, so if you go you might want to check it out on a weeknight or for lunch.

-Owlet