I’m lucky enough to have friends who always retained their sense of fun. Take the year that Laura decided to throw a surprise party for her husband Ted in Wenatchee. Laura is now the owner of Go Custom Travel, a company that focuses on adventure travel for families. She is the perfect travel agent, because she has always had an eye for cool spots and fun times, without breaking the bank.

Wenatchee is in the Northern Cascades of Washington state, a few hours from Seattle. What Laura decided to do was round up 20 of her closest friends with the directive to find a gorgeous 6,000 square foot rental house with a hot tub on the shores of the Wenatchee River. Her husband was lured up to meet us, following an elaborate treasure hunt, which sent him to the gym, lunch with his best friend, then to us with food, drinks, dancing, games, tobogganing and general mayhem.

On the first night in this huge house, all 20 of us decided to play hide-and-go-seek, adult-style. No, we did not get naked, but this game was not for the faint of heart. That’s because due to the sheer remoteness of where we were, when we turned out the lights, it was impossible to see the hand in front of your face, let alone the bodies of 19 other people.

When it was my turn (I got volunteered to go first) my teammate and I somehow managed to find everyone by swinging our arms around wildly, like drunken Frankensteins. Amazingly, we managed to find everyone within 30 minutes, but I immediately dubbed the game “hide-and-go-feel,” since that was the only true way to find people.

As it turned out, Sandy and I were the real pros at this game. Sandy came out of her hiding place when no one found her, and because, well, she got tired. She had chosen to perch herself like a cat burglar on the top, back edge of the washing machine (remember what I said about this being a group with a sense of fun?) As for me, when it came my turn to hide, I was never actually found because I used the age-old chameleon trick of hiding in plain site. At one point, after everyone was found, there were 5 people around me, with fingertips brushing my feet and arms, talking away, wondering aloud where I was, but not actually finding me.

My brilliant hiding place was in the middle of a queen size bed, where I was on my side, lengthwise, barely breathing. I knew the skills I gleaned from that 10-day silent meditation would come in handy sometime! The group actually gave up looking for me, thinking I’d gone outside to play in the snow. Finally, someone had the bright idea to turn the lights on room-by-room and Eureka!

I never did go outside that night, but the next day, we all headed out for the toboggan competition of the century.

Moguls were built, water was poured and the races began down a steep hill that dead-ended at the river. Karl went down with a knock to the head, I careened down the short, steep slope completely backwards to a standing ovation and Kim almost ended up in the river (remember, your feet are your BRAKES!)

Breathless from the biting cold and the belly-clutching laughter, the peppermint schnapps spiked hot cocoa capped the day’s adventures beautifully. Oh, well that and that night’s toga party with Scooby Doo sheets.

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