We noticed things we’d never paid attention to before – like the personalized bricks at the entrance of the Palace Theater.

I want to know the backstory

And we happened upon District where I had one of the better Sidecars of my life, a Sweet Potato soup that blew me away, and Salmon over Angel Hair that I can’t wait to enjoy the rest of at lunch.

It reminded me that no matter how familiar you are with a place, it’s good to take a look at things through new eyes.

In the month of June, the city is giving us not 1, not 2, but 3 chances to put on our explorer hats and get out there:

It’s Scavenger Hunt season! 

Cleveland Challenge – June 8

This Saturday, June 8, the Cleveland Challenge urban adventure race returns to Ohio for its fourth season.

Scavenger-Hunt-meets-5K in this “Amazing Race” style competition packed into one day.

Starting at 1pm, teams of two or more will dash around Cleveland while racing other teams, solving clues, plotting out the best route, and learning about new corners of the city.

Food, drink specials, music and prizes for the fastest racers and best costumes welcome everyone at the finish line.

As part of the nationwide Challenge Nation competition, the city’s top 25 teams qualify for the $5,000 National Championship race in Las Vegas in November.

Tickets are $30 until tomorrow; $50 after that.  Buy tickets at challengenation.com/cleveland

RTA’s Search the City Scavenger Hunt – June 15

On Saturday June 15, RTA’s Search the City Scavenger Hunt will celebrate Cleveland while showing how easy it is to be green and travel the city by public transportation.

From eastside stops like Lakeview Cemetery to Ohio City in the west (and everywhere in between!), Search the City shows off a variety of areas that might not be on your radar.

For $60, each team will receive starter kits with a map of the city, trip plans, timetables, and RTA All Day passes.

Participants will assemble at 10:00am for a golf scramble-like start at one of twelve challenge locations. Each team will take some form of RTA transportation from one station to the next until every challenge is done no later than 5pm.

Afterwards, all teams meet at Progressive Field’s Rally Alley to find out who won. First place gets $250 in cash, second place $125 and third place $75.

Everyone’s a winner, though, because participation in the Scavenger Hunt also gets you a ticket to that night’s Tribe game against the Washington Nationals and post-game fireworks. The 1st place team also gets upgraded to the Indians Social Media Suite.

Register online at www.RTASearchtheCity.com and learn more at www.facebook.com/rideRTA.

PlayhouseSquare Scavenger Hunt – June 26

Maybe you’re a Scavenger Hunt newbie and think you’d like to get your start with just one neighborhood.

Well, I have great news!  On June 26, I’m working with PlayhouseSquare Partners to organize a Scavenger Hunt of the PlayhouseSquare district.

Join me after work that Wednesday at Parnell’s Irish Pub on Euclid. Team check-in is 5:30-6pm with the Hunt starting at 6.

Clues will be spread out throughout the neighborhood and inside PlayhouseSquare. The first team to return to Parnell’s Irish Pub with the most photos and correct answers wins a prize.

Tickets are $10 for Partners, $15 for non-Partners and include entry into the scavenger hunt and food. Parnell’s will also be offering happy hour drink specials.

Learn more at playhousesquare.org/partners and call Molly Franz at PlayhouseSquare (216-640-8416) for tickets.

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Regardless of whether you attend one of these scavenger hunts or make up your own, the weather is great – get out and explore Cleveland!

Disclosure: I am a member of the PlayhouseSquare Partners board and am organizing one of the scavenger hunts mentioned in this post. However, my opinions and the choice to share specific events are 100% my own.

RTA Bar Crawl of Cleveland - Aug 27

When I lived in Philly, I walked and took public transit a lot. For some reason, though, when I moved to Cleveland that changed. Whether it was the free parking at work or sheer laziness at not wanting to learn a new route, when I lived in Shaker Heights I never took advantage of the RTA‘s Rapid train into work.

I kick myself now because as much as I love Avon Lake, my RTA option is to drive to the 55F at Lake and Bradley and the route is only open during weekday rush hours. Still, as Joe over at Mildly Relevant pointed out, if you want to get around Cleveland proper, RTA is an inexpensive way to jump between neighborhoods. And – contrary to the inaccurate reputation public transit often gets – it’s safe.

Plus, Google Maps’ public transit feature will now map your route for you pretty instantaneously. No more deciphering timetables? Where have you been all my life Google Transit!

Inspired by his ‘RTA Day’ experiment (check his recap of the lovely time he had exploring Cleveland via public transit), Joe has taken it one step further and organized an RTA Bar Crawl.

On August 27th, the group will meet at 1pm at West Side Market in Ohio City and walk to the Red line Rapid stop. By taking the Rapid and the bus (here’s the full route), the Bar Crawl will explore University Circle/Little Italy, Larchmere/Shaker Square, E.4th Street/Downtown and then return to Ohio City/W.25th at 8pm. Along the way, the group will visit different bars in each neighborhood and show that it is easy and safe to get around Cleveland without a car.

If you’ve read my blog for awhile, I think you know I LOVE when someone sees a problem (in this case — the bad reputation public transit wrongly gets) and instead of just ranting about it, proactively goes out there and does something. 

The solution Joe’s come up with combines some of my favorite things: exploring Cleveland’s neighborhoods, enjoying good food and drink, and clueing people into a facet of the city that gets a bad rap. Plus, he is working on finding a local charity to collaborate with that will receive a percentage of the proceeds. (The charity announcement is coming soon and I plan to update here once it does.)

Unfortunately, I will be driving home from Virginia that day so I won’t be able to make it.  However, with 47 rsvped ‘Yes’ (as of this posting) — @WhyCLE, @CrookdRiverWmn, and @CourtMarshall among them — I expect this to be the first of many RTA Bar Crawls and can’t wait to make it to the next one.

Help make more of these Bar Crawls happen by attending the inaugural crawl on August 27. You can learn more by joining the RTA Bar Crawl Facebook group and RSVPing “YES” on the event page.

And if someone knows of a bus route from the westside into downtown (even if it means driving a little closer to downtown than Lake and Bradley), let me know!

Disclaimer: I think this goes without saying but don’t drink and drive. If, like me, you need to drive to the first RTA stop, take a cab or have a designated driver drive you to and from the Bar Crawl. And as The Most Interesting Man in the World says — stay thirsty, responsibly, my friends.