I subscribe to a lot of interesting newsletters and eZines including one called “Experience Magazine.” Last week, I read an article which described an activity that had come about during the pandemic: “Randonauting.”
“Harness the power of quantum computing to bring adventure and meaning to your life! That’s the experience hawked by Randonautica, the app-slash-trend that has enjoyed success amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Randonauting promises a weird and novel method to explore your neighborhood by way of that venerable American tradition: quasi-scientific mystical mumbo-jumbo.“
I downloaded the free app with the intention of trying it out with Scotty while he was in town. Scotty has always been my best “Sure, I’ll play along!” buddy since he was a little kid!
So we both thought of our “intentions” (mine was “love”) and generated points in the neighborhood. This was kind of like geocaching.. another activity Scotty and I had done together several times over the years. Rather than a looking for a hidden cache (as we’d do for geocaching), we’d go to the designated point and see if we could find something representing our “intention.”
I was quite impressed with what I found at my waypoint: A purple diamond! I had seen similar diamonds and the artwork that was part of the Superior ARTery project that had been going on over the past few years, but I’d never found this particular diamond. And purple is my favorite color!
I do love these art installations that help make my community so colorful and unique!
We went on to Scotty’s waypoint which ended up being a pond behind our local Safeway.
I don’t know what Scotty’s “intention” was, but this was a peaceful spot and we decided to keep walking through Superior.
Scotty felt nostalgic as we walked through the streets and parks that he’d biked through and played at as a kid. We moved to Superior when he was 4 years old and a couple of weeks ago, he turned 28.
The neighborhood went through terrible fires last December and many houses were burnt to the ground. But rebuilding efforts are happening and it was heart-warming to see that there was new growth and restoration underway.
I have often felt very grateful that I live in such a beautiful place. When we moved here in 1999 there was no landscaping. Our house was being newly built and the neighborhoods were full of porta-potties and construction.
Everyone got their skinny little new trees and planted their fledgling gardens. And now.. 23 years later, the trees and gardens are mature and gorgeous. The fires were tragic, but the town survived.
Yes, the randonauting exploration was successful. My heart felt full of gratitude and love as we took this microadventure through these sweet spots of Superior.
Side note #1: The article from Experience Magazine that turned me on to randonauting was written by Glenn McDonald, a writer based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Matt & Stella just moved to Chapel Hill, and I’ll be visiting them in the Fall. Wouldn’t it be cool to meet Glenn McDonald? (If that happens, there will be a future Microadventure blog post about that!)
Side note #2: During Scotty’s visit, we saw the movie, Everything Everywhere All at Once, went to Meow Wolf – Convergence Station, and now went radonauting. Coincidentally (or is it?) all of these had to do with quantum-sci-fi-multiverse exploration! Is that woo-woo or what?
A very cool Carpe Diem Day!