THE RACE:
Teams must travel more than 5,000 miles to Portland, Oregon and make their way to the Tilikum Retreat Center to find their next clue. Nick and Starr are first out of the gate in Moscow, and make it quickly to the airport. All teams end up booking the Lufthansa flight via Frankfort to Portland. Nick and Starr use their extra time in the Moscow airport to do some research on their next stop on the interwebs, while Andrew and Dan just fart around and waste time--surprise!
DETOUR:
After a long-ass flight, teams must choose between two tasks that highlight Oregon's most dangerous business: Logging. In High and Dry, teams must climb thirty feet up a tree, traverse a forty foot log and then leap off of it to grab one half of the next clue. In Low and Wet, teams must traverse 850 feet across logs in water to reach the clue box.
Ken and Tina are first to the Detour and choose High and Dry. Ken makes it through the challenge, and Tina has to deal with a few of her issues with heights. Nick and Starr arrive and really put on the pressure. Both Nick and Starr fly through the challenge like monkeys.
Teams must now travel by taxi to the Bridge of the Gods. Once there, they will take a 2,000-foot zip line to an island to receive their next clue. Ken and Tina arrive first, with Nick and Starr right behind them.
Teams must now use the power of memory to answer questions about each leg of the race. Working together, in numerical order, they must match route info, detour, roadblock and pit stop photos with the corresponding leg number. There are 150 clue boxes to search, and teams must play this like a giant game of concentration. With all those clue boxes, it looks like The Amazing Race version of the Arlington Cemetery. Which team will end up buried here? Well, it won't be Nick and Starr who come from behind and finish before Ken and Tina.
Teams must now travel by taxi to downtown Portland and find the Portland Building. Once there, they must search the area of a green dinosaur in order to find their next clue. It's of course a crazy aggressive taxi ride to downtown. Nick and Starr find the dinosaur first, with Ken and Tina just moments behind them.
Now, they must travel on foot to Alder Street and find find the Russian food cart for their next clue. Nick and Starr get their first and find that they must get to Voodoo Doughnut. Ken and Tina arrive a few moments later and are hot on their tracks. The final clue directs teams to their last Pit Stop, Pittock Mansion, the finish line for this season.
PIT STOP:
It's a nail-biting finish with all the requisite taxi drama. In the end, Nick and Starr make an unprecedented seventh first place finish and win the $1 million prize. Ken and Tina end up in second, with Andrew and Dan in third. It's a tear-filled finale with Ken and Tina putting on their long-abandoned wedding rings. How long will it last? Sadly, Toni and Dallas were not present at the finish line, presumably because they were not allowed out of Russia without their passports.
OUSTED:
Us: We're totally outty for now. But, you can join us for all the action on The Amazing Race 14 starting on February 15, 2009. We'll be right here with all of the hilarity and drama starting on Monday, February 16.
Related Stories:
· Amazing Race 13 coverage [Jaunted]
