The grand adventure that was the LB Post Treasure hunt has finally concluded, with a horde of five contestants swarming the desk at the Bay Shore Neighborhood Library moments after its opening Friday, demanding to check out a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.”
But it was the journey that provided the excitement, and there’s no way we can express the joy of having people do whatever we told them to do, including standing in front of a headstone in a cemetery while posing with stuffed animals, walking around for more than a week carrying a 12-inch length of dental floss for no good reason and drinking some dreadful mead out of a flagon.
Horses were involved, snapping guard dogs were loosed on treasure hunters, librarians were harassed.
But there were some glorious sights along the way: a view of the city uncluttered by the Queen Mary, a couple of walks in some nice parks, a pair of delightful boat rides around Queensway Bay, a couple of refreshing stops at Alamitos Bay Landing and Shoreline Village.
We’re going to be honest. We’ve tried throwing a treasure hunt before, back in the days when we were in the print business, and, while we wouldn’t term our previous endeavor a disaster, it could’ve gone smoother. The pirate could have shown up when he was supposed to, which would have resulted in us not having to sneak him out of a second-story window.
Treasure Hunt planners have to expect the worst: What if there’s a riot? What if people get hurt by, say, being caught by a guard dog or falling off a horse while galloping down the freeway in the carpool lane? What if they get drunk on mead and go on a tri-county crime spree?
But, despite all of our fears, this one went off with only a few hitches, including a joy-killer batch of “terms and conditions” as cobbled together by our sprawling team of lawyers. Probably we deserved it. We tried to save money by hiring maritime attorneys instead of popping for treasure-hunt specialists.
Meanwhile, back at the LB Post plant, we tossed all the finalists’ names in a hopper (yes, we have a hopper) and drew the LB Post Treasure Hunt winner: Angela Kozik, who wins the grand prize of a dinner for four at Boathouse on the Bay and a Duffy boat cruise around Naples and the Bay, courtesy of Boathouse boss John Morris. The other four will receive $25 gift certificates to squander at Rocket Fizz, at 5282 Second St., in Belmont Shore.
Kozik, 28, is a fifth-grade teacher at Westerly School in Long Beach and works with the Long Beach Municipal Band in the summer. She will be taking her boyfriend and co-hunter Thomas Tulak, a filmmaker, to the Boathouse.
“We had a lot of fun,” Kozik said. “It was really neat to explore the city this way. It was a lot of mini-adventures. I don’t think I would have ever seen the DeForest Wetlands otherwise.”
Here is a scrapbook of photos taken along the LB Post Treasure Hunt by the five finalists:
Thomas Tulak and Treasure Hunt winner Angela Kozik’s teddy bear, Mr. Bear, joined the couple at the Wardlow headstone in the Long Beach Municipal Cemetery.
We had adventurers toss a cowboy hat in their backpack of things they’d need along the way. Bianca Garcia found a use for hers after her pony found its way to DeForest Park in North Long Beach.
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Retired firefighter Steve Moritz eluded packs of rabid junkyard guard dogs to Marina Vista Park, where he posed with his firedog friend (still active) to prove he survived one arduous leg of the journey.
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Treasure hunter Jennifer McElhoes photobombed her picture of Long Beach taken from the Queen Mary on Day 7 of the hunt.
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Tony Vaca (we told him “vaca” is Spanish for “cow”; he already knew that) brought his friend, who we’re gonna guess is named Garfield, to DeForest Park in North Long Beach en route to becoming a finalist in the LB Post Treasure Hunt.
Finally, the merry crew at the Bay Shore Neighborhood Library, where the treasure was found in the form of the Robert Louis Stevenson (RLS, to the treasure-hunters) book, “Treasure Island.”