Posted by Lauren
Today was an atypical Tuesday at work – we exercised both sides of the brain, delved into the difference between Product Managers and Product Owners, did some team bonding, and ran around the Stanford campus with GPS devices on a scavenger hunt!
Let’s get to the WIAW awesomeness, shall we? Check out other entries over on Jenn’s link-up.
Coffee, fruit, some coffee cake; then I went back for crunchy granola to snack on during some of the photo exercises….
12:15 PM – Lunch
First, I grabbed sandwich supplies (no bread) and made lettuce rolls with roast beef, sprouts, red onion, pickles, and pepperoncini.
After that, I went back to the “food corner” of the conference room for a bag of baked BBQ Lays, a sugar cookie, and some fruit….
At 2 PM we finished up with part one of our team offsite and then drove to Stanford University in Palo Alto for part two.
I had no idea what to expect! Our group of 6 split into three teams of 2 and learned the rules of the scavenger hunt: earn points for correctly solving clues that can only be reached by following a GPS signal.
Phil and I teamed up and decided to cover more ground by running (he clearly knows I’m a little competitive and that I appreciate interval sprints). We gained a few bonus points for taking pictures with people on campus (thank you group of German photographers for being so helpful). I can only imagine what the Stanford students thought when they saw us running around with a yellow GPS device!
After we counted the points (pssst Phil and I won!) all of us drove to downtown Palo Alto for a team dinner!
Gravity Bistro & Wine Bar
544 Emerson Street, Palo Alto
Website – Yelp
6:00 PM – Dinner
Cheese plate, pâté (love !!!), charcuterie, assorted breads – enjoyed them all, especially the various types of cheeeeese.
Plus I had my first oyster…. EVER. What took me so long?!!?
Bottle on left we shared during appetizers. Bottle on right we shared during dinner. Both were mighty tasty and made in California :)
For my main entree (because wine, oysters, cheese, bread, and pâté wasn’t enough) I chose the special of the day: grilled ahi tuna, lentils, grapefruit, baby onions, and an arugula salad. All the individual elements sounded good when the server described the dish, but it didn’t come together as well as I’d hoped. I blame the lentils.
7:30 PM – Dessert Time!
The 6 of us split 3 desserts: blackberry-brandy bread pudding (left) and chocolate budino with vanilla ice cream (right)…..
And profiteroles with coffee ice cream in the center!!
All the food was amazing, but if I go back I’ll likely stick with just a wine flight and appetizers… And maybe dessert ;)
Question: Have you ever done a GPS-based scavenge hunt? Or have you heard of geocahing?
-Lauren
9 comments on “WIAW 1/30: Gravity Wine Bar, Palo Alto”
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You just had your first oyster? That is crazy. I love oysters. I guess since I was born in New Orleans and went to college in Boston, oysters are just something normal to me, which probably isn’t normal to everyone else. That plate of profiteroles looks divine. I wish I could have one or two or all three.
Lindsay @ Conscious Cravings recently posted..WIAW (What My Roommate Makes Me)
Yes I was a total oyster newbie for some reason – I absolutely love shellfish, but never made/had the opportunity to try one! I’d love to try BBQ oysters in New Orleans!
I haven’t done an official scavenger hunt but I went geocaching once with one of my girlfriends. Caches are hidden all over and we looked through a list depending on how easy or hard or small or big the cache was, followed the clues posted around its coordinates and looked for the cache. Our first one was pretty tough and almost gave up but it was worth the hunt. Geocaches can be searched for in the cities, in the country, on trails or even in your local neighborhood. i want to get a GPS of my own to cache :) Loads of fun.
I didn’t have my first oyster until 2009. lol. they’re good :) slimy devils, but satisfying.
Sonia the Mexigarian recently posted..Garden Yogurt
My coworkers at my last job would always go geocaching (lots of hidden treasurers off Shoreline!) but I never went with them. Such a fun idea!
Wow this looks like such a fun work day! My office has never done any sort of team building stuff but these look great! And that dinner (especially the dessert) looks delish!
Emily @ Glitz Glam Granola recently posted..What to Wear Wednesday: London Calling
We really needed a day like this – you should suggest your work group do something similar! I can only imagine how tiring it would be to run around SF doing something like this!!
I’ve heard of geocaching but I’ve never done it before. It sounds like you had a great time though. I definitely want to try it!
Olivia @ Life As Liv recently posted..I’m Baaaaaaack!
Lentils do sound like a bit of an odd pairing with the other items in the dish. Hmm.
Your ahi is still my all-time favorite preparation!