Escape Room
This section chronicles our family’s love of escape rooms, from cracking a record 23 rooms in 2025 (82 total since 2016) to quirky trip logs detailing each puzzle, travel stop and post‑game reflection. It’s an ever‑growing diary of teamwork, hints and shared victories.
- Copper Cat Escape - Granny’s Recipe Rescue in Brainerd, MN. See post!
- Copper Cat Escape - Deep Woods Cabin in Brainerd, MN. See post!
- Puzzleworks - The Museum in St. Paul, MN. See post!
- No Esc Puzzle Collective - Sherwood Forest in Shakopee, MN. See post!
- Enigma Adventures - The Istanbul Gambit in Bloomington, MN. See post!
- Puzzleworks - The Hospital in St. Pual, MN. See post!
- Doldrick’s Escape Room - Crazy Train ⭐️ in Orlando, FL. See post!
- Puzzleworks - The Dungeon in St. Paul, MN. See post!
- Puzzleworks - The Anomaly in St. Paul, MN. See post!
- Enigma Adventures - Pirates of the Spanish Main in Maple Grove, MN. See post!
- Escape City - Mindmaster Industries in Calgary. See post!
- Solve Escape Rooms - Caper in the Escape Room in Waukesha, WI.
- Solve Escape Rooms - 14 Floors Below in Waukesha, WI.
- Escape in Time - Gold Rush in Madison, WI. See post!
- Cabinet Mysteriis - The Dreamwalkers ⭐️ in Quebec. See post!
- Cabinet Mysteriis - 2002: The Bovine Odyssey ⭐️ in Quebec. See post!
- Cabinet Mysterlis - Screaming Metal ⭐️ in Quebec. See post!
- Escaparium - Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen ⭐️ in Quebec. See post!
- Escaparium - Wardrobe for sale ⭐️ in Quebec. See post!
- Escaparium - Magnifico ⭐️ in Quebec. See post! Number 1 on TERPECA 2024 and 2025!
- Escape Room Alexandria - The Experiment in Alexandria. See post!
- Puzzled Escape Rooms - Time Machine in Fargo. See post!
- Breakout ND - Gemini Quantum Quest in Bismarck. See post!
- Escape Game - Ruins: Forbidden Treasure in Nashville. See post!
- Escape Game - Yeti Escape Room in Nashville. See post!
- Tammy and Mazie go on independent runs around Downtown Fargo.
- Jamie goes to Youngblood Coffee Roasters for a coffee.
- Check out of Jasper Hotel.
- Breakfast at Prairie Kitchen.
- Drive to Bismarck, ND.
- Stop for lunch at Fireflour.
- Explore downtown Bismarck: Anima Cucina, The Capital Gallery, and Brick Oven Bakery.
- Escape Room at Breakout ND.
- Amanda & Reid wedding reception at Baymont in Mandan and see a lot of my relatives! 🥳
- Tammy and Mazie go for a morning walk around Fergus Falls.
- Breakfast at Toast Cafe: Swedish Pancakes, Frikkadiller Toast (Swedish Meatballs), French Toast, Avocado Toast, and Fluffernutter to share.
- Drive to Prairie Wetlands Learning Center.
- Walk trail at Prairie Wetlands.
- Drive back to Fergus Falls downtown.
- Explore stores: Fergus Apothecary, Biffley’s & Dragon’s Den, Wildflour Bakery, Dahlia’s, Kaddatz Galleries, Dutchmen Organics, and The Bric.
- Drive to Fargo.
- 2:31 PM Enter North Dakota.
- Stop at Culver’s for chicken tenders.
- Time Machine room at Puzzled Escape Rooms.
- Walk around downtown Fargo. Jamie gets a delicious coffee drink at Youngblood Coffee Roasters. Tammy and Mazie visit The Nines and Proper while Tyler and Jamie go to Paradox Comics-n-Cards and buy a couple of Pokémon packs.
- Jamie and Tyler get Macrons at Bakehouse 23.
- Dinner at Beer & Fish Company. Mazie’s favorite dessert.
- We stop at Ferguson Books after dinner and pick up “My Friends” by Fredrik Backman. Mazie realizes how expensive hard cover books are when you don’t buy them on amazon.
- Fill up water bottles at Jasper Hotel.
- Jamie and Tyler get Rolled Ice Ice cream at Tea + Crepe.
- Stop at Silver Lining Creamery on the way back to the hotel. Tammy gets salted caramel and Jamie gets German Chocolate Cake ice cream to share.
- Really enjoyable elevator ride and feet up in hotel room. :D
- 12:53 PM: Start drive to Alexandria, MN. 23 minutes late.
- Up North Ice Cream for some delicious house made ice cream.
- Escape Room Alexandria to do the Mad Scientist room.
- Talked to owner of escape room and shared as well as received a bunch of recommendations.
- Drove to Fergus Falls.
- Check-in to Mill Boutique Hotel which has just opened. We are one of the first guests.
- Dinner at Union Avenue. Really impressive meals. The pasta was exceptional.
- Walk along the Otter Tail River.
- Return to hotel for the night.
- Saturday and coffee shops downtown open later. Find Columbuse Cafe open at 7am. The WiFi is good and appreciate them being open.
- Transfer to Structure Coffee when open at 8am.
- Pack up and check out of Sonder.
- Drive to Laval for our long planned escape room for today.
- Experience Magnifico at Escaparium Laval — the #1 rated escape room in the world.
- Lunch at Birdhouse.
- Ice cream at Gaufres et Glaces for last opportunity for super good Canadian dipped cones.
- Cross into United States at 4:46pm.
- Arrive at Airbnb at 6:06 PM.
- Everyone finds there various rooms.
- Pizza ordered in for dinner.
- Pool and hot tub evening.
- Turn in for the evening.
- Tammy went out and returned with pastries for breakfast.
- Checking out storm damage at cabin via cameras. Some tree damage from very heavy winds overnight.
- Drive to Mont Sainte-Anne. Left place too late.
- Arrived late to drop off Tammy, Mazie, and Tyler for their Canyoning-Quebec excursion. 😬
- Jamie explores mountain area and decides to spend his time hiking. Jamie takes Télécabine gondola up and does Les Chemin des belvédères loop. Then take La Pichard intending to descend to bottom but after 1 mile and descending 800 feet in the sun turn back and return to summit to take Télécabine gondola down.
- We all meet up in cafe at resort.
- Unplanned ice cream visit to Sammys and it is delicious.
- Unplanned stop to see Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.
- Visit Montmorency Falls, the upper area, and check out the suspended bridge above the falls.
- Go to Ile d’Orleans.
- Amazing strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries from Ferme le Bunker.
- A double cheeseburger so good Tyler ordered a second, and classic poutine from Casse-croûte Roquette.
- Stop at 3 Poules en Ligne.
- Stopped at Saint-Jean-de-l’Île-d’Orléans.
- stopped in Sainte famille and visited the Boulangerie Boulin and Petite Marche.
- Stopped in Sainte Petronille had ice cream at cafe next door to the Chocolaterie de l’Île d’Orléans and walked along the pier.
- Finished driving the Ile d’Orleans loop.
- A second stop at Ferme le Bunker for more fruit for tomorrow.
- Returned to Montmorency Falls to walk the boardwalk and see it from the bottom.
- Returned to Cabinet Mysteriis to do Screaming Metal escape room!
- Relaxed morning. Tyler and Mazie sleep in. Tammy on a run. Jamie having fun with some projects.
- 10:30 AM Breakfast at La Buche.
- Walk around the Old City and explore.
- Walk the promenade by the Fairmont past the Tobaggan Slides.
- Descend stairs to Côte de la Montagne.
- Explore Parc Montmorency.
- Descend stairs to Rue Sous-le-Fort.
- Explore shops in lower area.
- Made our way to Beauchamp Art Gallery and found a piece of art we all liked.
- Returned back to Airbnb.
- Jamie goes to Strøm Nordic Spa for an afternoon of relaxing and a massage. On the way there descend the Cap-Blanc Staircase, all 398 steps of it.
- Tammy, Mazie, and Tyler went out of town and did an afternoon with horses.
- All meet at Nina Pizza Napolitaine for dinner.
- Take Lyft to Cabinet Mysteriis to do two escape rooms: Dreamwalkers and 2002: A Bovine Odyssey.
- Take Lyft back to Airbnb.
- Up at 7am to head back to Orlando.
- 7:30a Drive to Orlando
- Great day at Discovery Cove.
- Fabulous time in Crazy Train Escape Room.
- Return car, get to flight.
- Back to central time.
- Lyft home.
- Finally get to sleep at 2:00 am.
Escape Rooms of 2025
This year we jumped way into our Escape Room adventures, more than any previous year. We completed 25 rooms in 2025!
This year we went through all of our records and made sure we had a complete inventory of all of our rooms, resulting in our Escape Rooms list. We are getting close to having 100 rooms so that we can become TERPECA voters! Speaking of TERPECA, we did seven rooms that were in the top 100 for 2024 of the Top Escape Rooms Project. Note the ⭐️ next to those rooms in the list.
It was a super fun year for escape rooms! 🤩
Our log for 2025 was…
We had a great time completing the Loose Sleuth escape room at Puzzleworks. The puzzles in the room were just right — hard enough to be challenging but never so difficult that we felt lost. No clues! Solved in 49m 05s. Room 85!
Blog Categories via LLM
After using GPT-5 to create category introductions for my website I got to thinking about the categories themselves.
With over 9,800 blog posts spanning 20+ years it is daunting to figure out an approach to categories. It is especially daunting to approach them in a way that would make sense to a visitor to my website. As a test, I gave this challenge to GPT-5 using Agent mode. It took 31 minutes to do the research. I have no idea how many web pages it hit on my site (I wasn’t watching!). It gave me a whole report and the results seem really solid.
Each one of these is also provided a description and examples posts that would fit into it. This seems like a great place to use AI.
Going through my blog and assigning posts to these categories could be done with a script and some vibe coding. Perhaps this will be a winter project for me.
All of this has me thinking that it would be nice for micro.blog to do this for me. I wouldn’t mind having micro.blog use AI to recommend categories for me. But then separately, now that we have categories with introduction text take each of my blog posts and ask the LLM to categories it into the existing structure. All the data is there. 🤔
Category Introductions via LLM
I used GPT-5 to create introduction text for my blog categories. Now I just need Tiny Theme to pull them in and I’ll be set.
This is the prompt I used:
Passing the explicit list of categories and links worked much faster than the first prompt which I asked it to just look at the Archive page and figure out what to do.
We have significantly increased our escape room activity in 2025! Just past half-way through the year and we are already at 23 and 82 total since 2016. 🤩
QMSB Trip - Day 15
✅ Quebec ✅ Montreal ✅ Stowe ✅ Bismarck
Go to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 or see index.
QMSB Trip - Day 14
Go to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 or see index.
Time Machine at Puzzled Escape Rooms
We arrived in Fargo today and made our way to Puzzled Escape Rooms and did their Time Machine room. The room had a lot of locks and codes to figure out. We started with uncovering a lot of different items in the room and then had to figure out where to get started. The beginning was probably the hardest point. As is often the case there were a couple of things that made me “face palm” that we missed it. Others we connected the dots but didn’t know what to do with it until the puzzle showed up and we were able to clear it very fast. Overall a fun room but an older style room that is heavy code and lock based. Room 81!
QMSB Trip - Day 13
Go to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 or see index.
The Experiment at Escape Room Alexandria
We made a stop at Escape Room Alexandria today and did “The Experiment”. We successfully solved the room and escaped with 6m 46s on the clock. The room had a cool flow starting with a set of puzzles that we were able to divide and do in parallel. Then we hit a whole different set of puzzles that required more communication and coordination. We had a fun time puzzling through everything and ultimately escaping.
Afterward we were able to chat with Lindsay, one of the owners, and shared a ton of great rooms that we’ve done. She has done over two hundred rooms and she also knew the folks that run Copper Cat, which is where we got the recommendation for this stop. Room 80!
QMSB Trip - Day 8
Also Olson Family Vacation 2025 Day 4.
Go to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 or see index.
Magnifico at Escaparium
Today we did the World’s #1 Escape Room according to TERPECA 2024 — Magnifico! It was an incredible experience. Unlike anything we’ve ever done before.
Jamie
Unlike any escape rooms experience I’ve ever imagined. The depth of the story drew us in right away. I wanted the story to keep going. Wow!
Tammy
Amazing! Not an escape room experience, but a private interactive theater where you complete puzzles and interact with actor’s to move further in the story. Truly remarkable story, set, and props.
Mazie
Imagine a live play happening all around you, but you can (and are encouraged to) interact with the characters to develop the story. It’s a choose your own adventure book in real life! We went on rides, had actual magic tricks played on us, and even died along the way.
Tyler
Wow! So many different puzzles and people. Always something new and interesting to do or look at. Never boring.
The introduction to the room…
At Magnifico’s Circus, prepare yourself for a day filled with wonder and excitement. Here, you’ll embark on amazing rides that will thrill and delight you. Test your skills and win fabulous prizes in our exciting games, perfect for all ages.
Bring your friends and family to share in the joy and fun. From the youngest to the young at heart, everyone will find something to love at Magnifico’s Circus.
And when the sun sets, the real magic begins! Gather under the big top to witness an unforgettable circus show. Our talented performers, dazzling acrobats, and hilarious clowns will leave you awestruck and full of wonder.
Magnifico’s Circus is not just a show; it’s an experience you won’t want to miss. Step right up and join us for a day of fun, laughter, and unforgettable memories!
You can also listen to the soundtrack.
Today we did two escape rooms at Escaparium, and nine years ago today Tammy and I did our second escape room ever in Maine. We’ve now done 78!
Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen at Escaparium
We started another double header of escape rooms today at Escaparium. Our first room was Lost Island of the Voodoo Queen. As we entered our first “room” at Escaparium we realized it wasn’t really a room. We were taken to a dock by our guide and after a mysterious disappearance we boarded our ship filled with spirits.
This felt more like we were on a movie set than an escape room. The ship was moving at times and we were solving very cool puzzles. After successfully navigating the ship through storms we landed at the Island and had to save lost souls.
We did complete the experience and break the spell of the Voodoo Queen. It was amazing and made us all eager to see the other Escaparium rooms we were doing.
QMSB Trip - Day 4
Go to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 or see index.
Screaming Metal at Cabinet Mysteriis
We again returned to Cabinet Mysteriis to do a third room. Tonight we were doing Screaming Metal. There are a lot of escape rooms that are intentionally scary and that isn’t our thing. This room does have “fright” components but we felt we were up to it. The story is set in a post apocalyptic world and you are taken hostage by a group that is going to kill you. You have an hour to escape.
This room also had actors with the “screaming” part courtesy of the first actor who is threatening and carrying a baseball bat. The other actor is trying to help you.
We did escape! It was a complicated room but we worked through all the various steps and ultimately made it out. I really liked how authentic the ending was and how immersive the story got. Well done.
QMSB Trip - Day 3
Go to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 or see index.
The Dreamwalkers at Cabinet Mysteriis
Tonight we visited Cabinet Mysteriis in Quebec for a double hitter of escape rooms. The first room was Dreamwalkers. New to us was that Cabinet Mysteriis focuses on an immersive experience. There is not screen in the room and no timer is visible. We had 75 minutes to complete the room but the precise time was unknown. They also asked us to remove watches so we couldn’t track time ourselves.
Additionally the story is set during dreams so we also wore slippers when doing the room. We all took our shoes off and got our choice of various home knit slippers.
With no screen to communicate with us the game master was a character in the room. The friendly and helpful Mr Fox appeared inside an old fashioned TV cabinet to aid us as we worked the various puzzles
The room was complicated and alas we did not solve it but we had a great time and if we would have had another ten minutes maybe we could have got there.
Florida Spring Break: Day 7
Crazy Train Escape Room
Our final thing before leaving Florida and heading home was to visit Doldrick’s Escape Room and do their Crazy Train: The Ballad Of Skeemin’ Plotz escape room. Tammy saw this room was rated 61 in the world by the Top Escape Rooms Project in 2024 so we had to check it out! It was our 66th escape room and our first room in Florida.
This room was great! You are given 75 minutes to solve this room and it is wonderfully themed like an old school cartoon. You have to stop Skeemin’ Plotz and all of his various attempts to skeem. The story was great and the overall room mechanics were flawless. Screens serve as windows looking out of the train and you see and interact with things happening inside and outside the train. The difficulty on the puzzles was all “just right” and we were super engaged through the entire room. The time breezed away, we used (technically) no clues, and successfully stopped old Skeemin’ Plotz! Room 66!
