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.
- 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.
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.