I’ve never much liked birthdays, but I enjoy spending time with Sandra any weekend. She always steps it up a bit for the first weekend in November, though. This year, she took me to an escape room with a medieval / dragon theme in Envigado.

For those who don’t know, an escape room is a series of puzzles, usually along a theme, leading eventually to a key to unlock the entry door. They’re designed for 2-6 people, but it’s usually easier with more eyes / hands / minds to work through multiple puzzles concurrently.

With only two of us, especially since it was Sandra’s first, I didn’t have high expectations of success and was happy to just enjoy the game. It took her a while to get into the mindset for understanding and solving the various puzzles, and we both got sidetracked a number of times, but we actually escaped with minutes to spare and only a few clues from the staff, who observed remotely.

She also took me to a Japanese restaurant since I’d been wanting for her to try ramen. Although mine wasn’t like anything I’d tasted in Japan, it was close enough and Sandra’s looked pretty authentic. The walls were all decorated with pictures of anime characters, Boy’s Day carp kites flew from the balcony and a 7-tier Girl’s Day doll display was on show in a back room. All in all, a great weekend, and we’ll be going back to both the restaurant and the escape room.