Thank you to Escapism Portland for providing my husband and I with a free booking in exchange for review. All opinions are my own. 

Whats better than traveling for this first time with kids right before your married? Getting trapped in a crazy experimental laboratory and using team work to get out in under and hour! Escape rooms are a very popular trend in Europe as well as online gaming. If you have never experienced one they are basically you, locked in a room, finding clues to figure out how to get out. You feel the need to really put yourself in the mind of the theme to know where to look. So if you’re a puzzle lover Escapism Portland could be something right up your ally!

My husband and I are huge puzzle lovers as well as thrill seekers in general, so being trapped in a room was totally something we were excited about. I really liked the way things were set up at Escapism. When we first got there we were given the low down on how we ended up trapped in this room, we were also given some basic rules and safety guidelines as well as instructions on communication if it was needed. We chose to do “Dr. Zylchov’s laboratory“, a room set in the cold war era full of mystery and some pretty good humor. We walked in just the two of us and instantly were taken back to another time and environment. Everything is the room was so authentic to the theme of the room. There were so many things that you thought you might need or might think you need, nothing stood out as hey a clue until you actually stumbled upon it and gave it some thought. Most of the time when you thought you had something figured out you had to go back just to realize there was a piece of the clue you missed. This was a high point in the experience because while you do want to figure it out it feels good to be challenged, in a way that flows and makes sense. You never feel like “ugh, I’m just not understanding this or where this is going” you always feel like “man what did I miss, I gotta search for more!” Another amazing part of this was that the clues weren’t simple like “hey I found this code I know what to do”, but “hey, I found this now I need to figure out how to use it or what it goes to”. My favorite and most important part was that you could trash the room, scatter things all about, really dig in and look without feeling like hey don’t touch this or I don’t know if this is part of the set up or not. Escapism really set this up to be as user friendly as absolutely possible.

My husband and I had such a great time and walked away feeling proud (although we did need a few clues). We felt like it was such a great partnership building activity as there were clues that really appealed to different types of minds. There were clues that I would catch, that my husband over looked as well as clues I would have never put together if my husband wasn’t there.  Escapism Portland also has another room called the “ritual room” it wasn’t ready during our vacation or we would have booked that next day! So if you’re ever in the Portland Oregon area Escapism Portland should be a must stop as its such a unique and fun activity whether as a first date, long time friends or even newlyweds!

Lakota

I am a stay at home mother of two, who loves to create in every form, from cooking, to henna, to painting or sculpting, creating with my hands is my passion! I love to dance and let loose when the music flows right. Being outside is a special kind of therapy I think humans need more of as well as mindfulness! I love all things new and adventurous and am always looking to experience more of life 🙂