This past weekend, Gause and Son Jewelers, a local Ocala fine jewelry store held a scavenger hunt in downtown Ocala. My husband, Greg had to show horse farms at the last minute so I recruited my friend Cathy Trickel as a last minute teammate. The grand prize was a Tacori diamond ring worth $15,000.

We met at 10am on the square in downtown Ocala. There were approximately 300 people lined up on a very chilly Saturday morning. The first clue was texted to our phone and we were on our way, along with about 300 other hopefuls.

Wearing our sneakers and sweatsuits we thought we were going to be awesome competition, but as hoards of young (very young) couples were running past us at a blur we knew we were in trouble. Not to dispare, we were older and wiser!

Ocala Traditions, awesome store, did I mention they have Kate Spade china? We became engrossed in so many lovelies there it was hard to leave. Cathy mastered the art of a proper “place setting” in record time, however, the browsing might have cost of a little time.

On to the next clue, my gosh, where is the library? We thought it moved. I guess they mean the old library, the new library is several miles away, and since we couldn’t possibly walk or run that many miles let’s just head to the old library. The answer to the clue is here, yay.

By now we are shedding the extra clothing and figuring this is a good way to also shed some extra pounds. Several clues were centered around the Horse Fever Horses on the square. This is the 10th anniversary of Horse Fever. Cathy being a new resident to Ocala, thought she would like to take the Quarter Horse home to her new farm when the auction comes up in March. Of course we had to stop and admire all the horses on exhibit and all the local Ocala artist that painted them. The Horse Fever Auction in March of 2001 raised $1.5m. WOW! The auction will be held at Ocala’s own Live Oak Farm and proceeds go to Marion Cultural Alliance.

How many small square windows are in the façade on the law offices of Bird and Pozzu? Well after 3 tries we never did get this one right, does anyone know the answer?
We made it back after missed two questions and taking a couple of tries for the right answer on a few anothers, but all and all it was for a very good cause. All donations given went to ALS – Lou Gehrig’s disease.

What a great day with a fabulous friend in beautiful downtown Ocala.