Sasquatch Scavenger Hunt: Nursing Teaching Moments

Yesterday, I took my daughter, my best friend from nursing school, and her daughters to South Coast Botanic Garden. Due to the COVID surge, our school district had halted school for the rest of the week – not even resorting to online learning. We thought it’d be nice to take our girls to explore and appreciate the garden, work in some outdoor physical activity, and keep them off screens. While we were there, we discovered the garden had a Bigfoot Scavenger hunt. Visitors are encouraged to find Sasquatch evidence by exploring various sites using clues and then recording your findings in a nature journal, a pamphlet they pass out to guests to draw what they see.

My friend’s youngest daughter was determined to see Sasquatch’s Lair before leaving the garden. We were on our way out when we discovered Sasquatch’s secret hideaway. It ignited excitement in my daughter and her friend that we continued to see all the other Sasquatch evidence throughout the garden and solve all the other clues. There were five scavenger hunt stops: Sasquatch’s Lair, Sasquatch Scat, Clump of Fur, Foot Prints, and Sasquatch Food Cache. We found all the stops and saw all the clues. My daughter and her friend were satisfied to find all the evidence, and I was just happy to spend time with my friend and get 10,000+ steps in my day.

Today, my kindergartener excitedly told my mom, “I saw where Sasquatch lived and saw what he ate! We even looked for Sasquatch POO! – Yeah, based off his poo, he’s CONSTIPATED!” My mom started laughing, and I couldn’t help but laugh myself. When we had found the Sasquatch Scat, they mainly were a pile of brown-colored balls. In Nursing School, we learned about the Bristol Stool Chart – a visual and numerical chart used to describe people’s bowel movements, from constipation to diarrhea. Separate hard lumps (or balls) indicate Type 1 stool, which is a sign of constipation. When we saw the scat, my friend jokingly commented that Sasquatch must be constipated. My daughter remembered this and was proud to share her discovery with my mom. She may not be in school right now, but I guess my daughter is still learning something!