01 Adventures With Abuela

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It was late afternoon in Kanab, Utah, when Adriana Cruz raninside. Holding a large envelope, she exclaimed,“It's the letter from Abuela!”

Her brother, Rob, looked up from the book he was reading. “Get Mom and Dad!” he said. “They'll want to open it right away.”

Their little sister,Emily,put her hands on her hips,looking puzzled.“Abuela sends us stuff all the time. What's the big deal?”

Adriana explained,“This is a special letter.It contains clues to an adventure!”

“Clues?” Emily asked.

“Remember, in her last email Abuela told us she was going to send us clues about our vacation,” Rob said.

“That's no mystery,” Emily said.“Mom and Dad already told us we were going to Abuela's house.”

“But we have to solve a mystery on the way there,” Adriana explained. “And this has the clues.”

Their parents walked into the living room.“What's all the buzz about?” Mr.Cruz asked.

“The letter from Abuela is here!” the children exclaimed.

“We're leaving Kanab tomorrow so it came just in time,” Mrs. Cruz said.

The family gathered to read the letter.

Dear family,

I am taking you on a wonderfuI trip. Let's see if you can figure out where we are going. I have sent you clues.

As you drive, use the clues to try and figure out where we will meet.

I will give you a hint: All the answers to my clues can be found on an Arizona map.

The clues are found in smaller envelopes. You may open each clue as you solve the one before it. You may now open the first clue.

Good luck, and I hope I am not sitting at the meeting place alone!

Love,

Abuela

CLUE 1: Books and Scrambled Letters

“Look! She included a map.”Rob said,unfolding it on the coffee table.

“I think these are the clues,” Emily said, pointing to a bunch of envelopes held together with a rubber band.

Mr. Cruz held up a sealed envelope.“We are supposed to open this one first,” he said, as he opened the envelope. He pulled out the paper and read:

Emily said, “Let's look at the map. Abuela said all the answers were on the map. If we look at the map maybe we can find a city that is part of a book.”

“Hmm,” said Adriana, “I think it might be easier to list the parts of a book. I think there are fewer parts of a book than cities in Arizona.”

“Great idea!” exclaimed Rob, and he started making a list. “Let's see,there are covers,a table of contents,and page numbers…”

“Pages! All books have pages but they might not have a table of contents!” said Adriana.

“Great! Let's see if there is a Pages, Arizona, on the map,” said Rob.

“There's not Pages, but there is a Page, Arizona! It is in the northern part of the state, almost in the center,” stated Adriana.

“Well, then that is where we will drive tomorrow after we have had a good breakfast,” said Mrs. Cruz.

CLUE 2: Names and Paintings

The next morning,an hour after an early breakfast,they rolled into Page and gave a loud SHOUT.

“Now we have to figure out what direction to go using the letters in the word shout,” said Rob.

“Well it shouldn't be west because we just came from there, and Abuela wouldn't send us back in the same direction,” said Adriana.

“You sillies. It's south! You just move the h to the end,” cried Emily.

“Hey, don't we get to open the next clue now that we are in Page?” remembered Dad.

Mom opened the next clue because Dad was driving. Mom read,“Clue 2. You should be in Page, Arizona and traveling south.”

“Yeah!” cheered the Cruz children. “We were right.”

Mom continued reading.

“It's a drawing of a paintbrush and a cactus,” Adriana said,“but what does it mean?”

“Let's look at the map. I don't see any cactus, and certainly there are no paintbrushes. Read the clue again, Mom,” asked Rob.

Mom read the clue again and said, “Oh, I just noticed that Spring, Ridge, and Gap are all capitalized. That means they might be the name of something. All place names are capitalized.”

Adriana opened the map. “Here it is! Highway 89. We are supposed to drive south on Highway 89! ”

“Let me see,” said Rob as he grabbed the map.“Look Highway 89 goes through Bitter Springs,Cedar Ridge,and The Gap—places just like Mom thought.”

“Good, then 89 must be the right road,” said a relieved Dad.“What about that town that thinks it's a city and is often a member of a band.What the heck does that mean?”

“Hmm,” said Rob. “I've got it! It's Tuba City. I see from the map legend that Tuba City is really a town, and I know that tubas are musical instruments in bands.”

CLUE 3: Towns and Flags

Several hours passed as the children searched every billboard, sign, and building along Highway 89 for something that matched the drawing. They had passed the exit to Tuba City and were starting to get nervous.

“Maybe we missed it,” said Adriana.

“I don't think so,” said Mom, “but just look out of the window. Aren't these rocks beautiful? It's almost as if someone painted them with a rainbow.”

“Painted with a paintbrush?” asked Emily.

Just then Adriana saw a sign “Painted Desert.” “That's it!” she cried. “Emily, you are a genius! Paintbrush and cactus—we are in the Painted Desert. Mom, open the next clue and let's see if we are right!”

Mom read:

The children all screamed,“Yes!”

Mom continued.

“Oh, man. It's all about a flag. Where are we going to find a flag in the middle of the desert?” moaned Rob.

“I've seen flags at gas stations,” stated Emily.

“Yeah, but a gas station isn't a city. Abuela said when we get to the city the poem reminds us of, to call her,” said Rob.

“I know,” said Adriana. “Remember, Abuela also said that all the clues can be found on the map. Let's look at the map and find the cities. Maybe if we read the city names we can find one that reminds us of a flag.Cities have bigger dots on this map than towns.”

The children looked for all the cities on the map, Phoenix, Tucson... “FLAGSTAFF!” they shouted. “Dad, quick, drive to Flagstaff!”

CLUE 4: More Letters and Quarters

They drove to a rest stop near Flagstaff, and Dad called Abuela on his cell phone.

“Wow, you have done a great job! I hope you're in Flagstaff,” said Abuela over the phone.“Put me on the speakerphone so everyone can hear.”

Hi everyone. Here is Clue 4. Unscramble the letters in Clue 3 that chose not to join. Go two hours east on Interstate 40. And meet me at the head of Washington's coin.

“See you in two hours!” Abuela said.

“Bye, Abuela!” the children shouted.

“I guess we need to pull out the map again,” said Rob.

“And don't forget Clue 3,” said Emily.

The children saw that some of the letters were different from the other letters in Clue 3. They figured that those were the letters that didn't join. But when they listed the letters, F, i, e, t, d, i, P, r, o, e, e, r, s,f,t,they didn't make sense.

Then Adriana remembered that Abuela had said to unscramble the letters. So they each played with the letters. They scrambled and unscrambled them as Dad drove.

They had made Peter Fest, and Free Poets but nothing was making sense. Then Dad reminded them of the map.

“We are driving two hours east on I-40. Maybe you can use the scale of miles on the map to figure out how far two hours driving would be and see if something near that spot has the letters you listed.”

“Well, it's about 60 miles from Flagstaff to Winslow,” said Rob.

“That means it is about an hour because cars travel about 60 miles an hour. Another hour, or 60 miles from there, puts us at a place called the Petrified Forest,” said Adriana.

“That's it!” cried Rob. “Abuela is meeting us at the Petrified Forest. That has all the right letters.”

“But according to this map the forest is huge! How are we going to find Abuela in a forest?” cried Emily.

“She said to meet her at Washington's head,” Adriana remembered.“Maybe there's a statue there. Wait, didn't she say something about a coin? Washington's head is on a quarter, isn't it?”

“Quarters are even smaller than heads!” cried Rob.

“Well,” Mom said, “I believe Abuela's words were ‘at the head of Washington's coin.' Perhaps you need to look at the map again.”

Adriana read aloud the spots labeled inside the Petrified Forest,“Pintado Point, Kachina Point, The Park Headquarters, and Newspaper Rock.”

“Wait!” cried Rob. “That's it! The Park Headquarters—we will meet Abuela at the Park Headquarters inside the Petrified Forest! ”

Soon the Cruz family pulled into the parking lot at Petrified Forest Park Headquarters.The children scrambled out of the car.They found Abuela cheerfully talking to a park ranger.

“There's my family now,” said Abuela. “I thought you'd never get here!”

“Never? That was the shortest drive ever!” said Emily.

“Well, let's go find out about Petrified Forests,” said Abuela.

The Cruz family knew they were off on yet another adventure with Abuela.