Talk 1300’s “Saturday Night Trivia Show” and the Albany Aqua Ducks

I’ve played Talk 1300’s Saturday Night Trivia Show, hosted by Kelly Stevens, at least once a month.  Why only once a month?  Well, after you win the big prize on the trivia show, you can’t play for another 30 days.  And as you can surmise, I’m doing quite well for myself – three “wins” in a row. Essentially, you call in, you answer five questions of varying difficulty on a wide range of topics, and if you can answer every question correctly, you win gift cards to various restaurants.

The last time I played, however, there was an added bonus prize in the mix.  I received two tickets to ride on the Albany Aqua Ducks boat tour, as part of a special “trivia tour” with host Kelly Stevens.

Gotta make a phone call.

“Hello?”

“Hi Corrine, it’s Chuck. Want to go on a boat ride with me this Sunday?”

“Sure.  What time?”

“Eleven-thirty.  See you then.”

And that Sunday morning, Corrine and I drove to downtown Albany, and boarded one of the two amphibious bus-boat vehicles that are part of the Albany Aqua Ducks fleet.

The Aqua Ducks boat tour first drives through downtown Albany, as a tour guide explains the various monuments and buildings and historical sites.  Then, the vehicle will drive over to the Hudson River boat launch near the Corning Preserve, and into the water we go.  Very cool way to spend a day.

As we boarded the boat, Corrine and I each received a raffle ticket.  Then, as we traveled along Broadway and North Pearl Street and Ten Broeck Street and Madison Avenue and everywhere else, Kelly Stevens asked us trivia questions about the tour – things like “The only British Lord to ever be buried in an American church is buried in what Albany church?”  (St. Peter’s on State Street).  Or, “How many seats are in Capital Rep?” (300).

The boat-bus tour was fun – even when we experienced a sudden flash rain storm (the boats are equipped with clear vinyl curtains, we could put the curtains down and still enjoy the tour without getting too soaked).  At the end of the tour, we handed in our trivia answer slips.  I did reasonably well, getting at least 16 out of the 20 questions right – I messed up on calling Pete Seeger’s sloop the “Clearview” when its true name is the “Clearwater,” and I listed the USS Slater as a Destroyer, when it is in fact a Destroyer Escort.  But by scoring at least 16 questions right, I earned an extra raffle ticket, and even received a bonus ticket for knowing the species of bird that nests in a special protected area under the Dunn Memorial Bridge (Peregrine falcons).  Corrine played along with the trivia game, and she also got the Peregrine falcon question correct – thus earning her an extra raffle ticket as well.

Meanwhile, Kelly Stevens took all the raffle tickets and dumped them in a little bag.  A swirl of tickets to mix them up, and then she drew the first prize – which was a $50 gift card to the Real Seafood Co. on Wolf Road.

Two of my tickets ended with 548 and 549.  The ticket chosen ended with 550.

Rats.  No win.  Oh well, it was a decent boat ride and I got to spend some time with Corrine –

Hey, wait a second.  Corrine got her raffle ticket after I received mine…

I quickly glanced over.

She had the 550 ticket!  Happiness!!

A few seconds later, she returned back to her seat with two $25 gift certificates to the Real Seafood Co.  “I never win these things,” she smiled.

“You have now,” I replied, a big smile on my face.

All in all, it was a great afternoon, we enjoyed riding on the Aqua Ducks boats, and it was fun to play a casual game of trivia.  You can’t go wrong with that combination.