Hubbys 100th find

It's Halloween and this is how we spent our day:
We started off the morning doing a company service project to help homeless youth in the area and while we were in the vicinity lets find some Geocaches. Hubby has 3 more to reach his 100th find.
# 98 is 4th Ave Travel Bug Exchange

Quick find and we didn't think anyone was around to see but as we finished signing the log and headed back to the car, we saw a drunk hanging around the car. I had left my purse in the front seat and the doors unlocked. I was glad to find nothing missing and glad we were not very far from the car but wonder if we were seen with the cache and if it will be muggled now.

Our next stop #99 APC #11 should be an easy find and it wasn't too bad. It was in a great out of the way spot

And on we go to # 100 hoping it will be a nice location to mark the 100th find. We were not disappointed!

We finished our geocaching adventures for the day by finding a couple that we could not find before. Hill and Dale Rotary Park. Hubby finally found a good GZ and dug in until he found it. It was not an easy find and I am very glad to cross that one off our list. The other one Randy BtWWWS was a quick easy find in the daylight but not one we ever would have found in the dark when we were searching before.

It's a good day to find those not found before

It was such a yucky rainy day yesterday and we have had a run of bad luck in finding geocaches in the dark, so we didn't go geocaching for our date night last night. But today was a great day, hubby didn't have any pressing responsibilities and the bridal shower that I went to was over by 1:00PM. I called hubby on my way home and said "Let's go Geocaching". Kcor had been replaced, so we decided to go find it and catch the one we didn't have time to get last week. We also wanted to spend more time looking for Shortline Railroad without the pressure of coming darkness. We found all three.

First was K-cor: I would have found it last time had it not been missing. I recognized the rock immediately. It was just in a different location. Hubby actually got there first and claimed the find.

Next we looked for "The South 40". It is one of my favorites so far. The hardest part was choosing the best place to park. It was a perfect distance, short hike, to a nice landmark and an excellent view. There was a well worn trail straight to the cache location. It was an easy find. We spent some time enjoying the view!

Then it was back to Short Line Railroad. I got a good laugh when I found the cache. When we had looked before, hubby was placing rocks and bark and such in several different likely cache locations to make it look like a cache was hiding there and confuse future lookers. He had placed a rock right on top of the cache after looking where it was at, and not being able to find it. Today, I went to remove the rock, because it was so obviously out of place. I noticed the puzzle piece, removable pieces of the middle of the tree stump and started pulling them out and there it was. I called out that I had found it and they didn't believe me, because I was standing right by the car and we had searched that place thoroughly the other day. So it ended up being another fairly quick find for the day. Yeah! Much better feeling after our streak of bad luck.

Date Night: it get's dark way to early

We were hoping to pick up 7 quick caches tonight. No such luck! Our first stop was a quick one: Caitlyn's Cache 28.0 "ICU2"   Good thing we know the secret to those kind.

The next one stumped us. We spent way to much time and daylight looking for Hill & Dale Rotary Park. We never could get a good GZ read and it wasn't in any obvious spot. We never did find it.

Next on our list is another quick one. Dave's Place VII

Then we headed to one I had already found. Book Madness X (part of a series) Hubby didn't take to long to find it after a little bit of prompting by me.

Our next stop was definitely the fun one for the night. On a college campus, lots of muggles around. It is called Lights On and was a first one of this style of cache. I wonder what the college students thought to see a couple of old people staring at trees and benches and lights and all number of other strange things. Hubby just about got hit in the head by a Frisbe. He ducked just in time. I took this picture for stealth while I was taking a closer look at what I thought might be the spot. It was one that was going to take some feeling around. Finally, the muggles cleared out a bit and I could get down to some serious looking. It only took me a minute before I had it in my hand. We signed the log and were on our way. Only two more to go and it is getting very dark.

Randy BtWW's is close by. We got out our flashlights and started searching, but it was just too dark and we had no luck.

Our last try is a 2 part multi-cache on our way home. It should have been another easy parking lot cache. But we couldn't narrow down GZ and we couldn't find it in the obvious spots. That is 50% of the ones we tried that we couldn't find. A very disappointing night! Hubby was trying to get close to his 100th find so he could go together with our son Nuttyguy for the landmark find.

After the Roller Skating- WAVA activity

WAVA (Washington Virtual Academy) is the girls high school. They had a roller skating activity in SE Spokane and we attended. I even got on roller skates for the first time in many, many years. When I put on the skates and tried to stand up, I just about took them off again. After I figured out how to stand up and get into the rink, it didn't take me long to get back into the swing of things. I soon discovered muscles that hadn't been used that way in many years. It is a whole lot different to do new things with an old body. It just is the same as when I was younger and never even noticed the muscles. [:)] A couple hours later when the activity was over, we went geocaching while we were in the area.

We spent a few minutes looking in Sherwood Forest for Robinhoods Stash, but not enough time to find it. Too many rocks to turn over and we didn't want to spend all day.

On to some serious looking at our next stop. APC#6

It was very similar to APC#10 that we found on Mon night. Not exactly the same but close. I spotted the cache and AA retreived it. We signed the log, took a picture and we were on our way.

Our next stop is Camp Caro Cache ....of Doom. AA found it quite quickly, which is surprising because it was very well hidden in a hole under a rock in the middle of the grass. It was hard to tell there was even a hole or a rock there.

The next cache was from the same parking place but a little bit of a hike. AA didn't go with us. Too much Roller skating had worn her out. This one EZ Apple was a full size ammo container and was much more out of the site of muggles than I expected. It had a nice view. MBW found it quite quickly.

Then it was time to go home and get the school work done for the day.

Family Fun Night

It's Monday night and it is a quick rush to get school work done and meet dad after work at our starting point. We try to get out as quick as possible so we still have some daylight. Our first stop is a new one, only a few people have found it. 

Short Line Railroad

The GPS can't get a good GZ read and there are lots of potential hiding places for that elusive cache. We can't use all our daylight just searching for this one cache. 5 more minutes and we move on. We didn't find it. We'll have to go back another day.

Our next stop could have easily been another 'no find'. It was a tricky one with a very good clue. Its name: A Weighting Game 

I walked right up to it and knew I had found the right spot, but I couldn't find the cache. I looked elsewhere but kept going back to that first piece of wood.

I knew it had to be there, but it took me a while to discover the secret. That log hides the cache. Can you discover the secret?

Next stop is APC#10 

The clue is ready, set, go!

As we pull up to the spot, there is a Stop sign. Is that it? Nope! By then AA had spotted another likely spot and had retrieved the cache. 

Now, it is getting late and we are hungry, but we have to find this one last cache. 

Come Fly With Me

With the clue and a little bit of searching MBW claimed the find. We all signed the log and we were on our way home.

Dancing and Caching

Our Saturday wasn't over yet. In the evening we took the girls to a dance and while we waited hubby and I found a few more geocaches in the dark. The first one we looked for was Jenne Park but we couldn't find it in the dark. The coordinates were not very good. They put GZ across the street from the park in the middle of a lawn. After a little bit of searching we decided to move on and try this one another day when it was light. Next we went to Cheweleh#3. It brought us to this bell. I found the cache very quickly and after we signed the log, I got out my camera to take a picture and hubby decided he just couldn't resist ringing the bell. It was very loud. I quickly snapped the picture and we were out of there.
Our next stop was Peaceful Rest. It is behind the cemetery in the middle of the cold, dark woods. Yes! I did get a little freaked out and thought,

     'this is crazy! looking for a plastic bottle full of trinkets and kids toys in the dark woods behind the cemetery on a cold night just so I can sign the log saying I have found it.'

Then we went to Mud Lake Cache, another dark lonely road. I let hubby climb the embankment and do the searching while I stayed fairly close to the car. he found it and we both signed the log and went back into town.


This next one was Cheweleh #1. It is another landmark spot by this(picture) sign. I jumped when I saw that plastic snake while I was searching. I had to take a close second look to make sure it was not real.

It was then time to go pick up the girls, but we had one last easy cache to pick up on our way home.

It's name: x?c?m?sn?k??l  If you figure out what that means, let me know because I have no clue.

Our first cache of this kind took us a long time to discover the secret hiding place. Now they are a quick grab and go.

Tree Climbing

Now we have our tree climber we can try this one again.

Some Random Place 2

AA climbs up the tree and looks for the cache.
She can't find it.

She climbs back down.

Hubby is not willing to give up that easy, so he climbs the tree.

He can't find it either so he climbs some more.

Up, Up, Up he goes!

Umm....If you haven't found it, I don't think you are going to.  Now come down before you hurt yourself.....

And so this one was a "not found"

YET!

Bear Lake Adventure

Today we set out to find all the caches around Bear Lake.
The first one just inside the park gate is Dad's Day 2009 #5


MBW(majorbookworm) found it pretty quickly and we were off to the next one.








Our next one on the list is Bear Stump

This one had AA's(animal addict) name all over it. Obviously it was in a stump and there was one right there close to where the GPS was leading us. She claimed the find. It had a travel bug to trade and was big enough for the jeep. So we will be saying goodbye to the jeep and let it hang out here for awhile.
I think it will enjoy it's new temporary home.

Time to drive around to the other side of the park to find the parking place for the rest of the Bear Lake caches.
Our next stop is The Ark. We also found it in a stump and it was full of.....yes, you guessed it....Animals.
I didn't get a picture of this one because I was holding all the animals in my jacket while the girls sorted through them. AA dropped in a rabbit, rooster, and a sheep. MBW claimed a chipmunk, AA claimed a wolf, and hubby claimed the beaver. His scouting patrol at Woodbadge were the beavers.

Time to hike to our next cache. This was the first part of a 2 part multi-cache. Findley Find

Up a steep hill and into the rocks....MBW claimed the find after a bit of looking around. She found it in a spot hubby had just looked :)
We entered the co-ordinates for the second part of the cache and spent a few minutes enjoying the view while we decided what to do next.

Hubby checks the clues.

AA enjoys the view









More hiking to our next cache. Family Fun Hike: Findley#1

The directions said to turn off the main trail on a trail that goes to the right after you see bear lake. Well the GPS was pointing right and there was a faint deer trail that didn't last for long but we followed it anyway and kept following the general direction of the GPS. Yes! there was some bushwacking involved. Okay we are in the general area. There is the pile of logs that someone talked about when they logged their find. We must be close. We start looking around while hubby is trying to find GZ. He kept walking around in circles within a 200feet radius. I got tired of following him around and just started looking. I ran across this stump while I was looking so stopped to take a picture.  And then hubby is yelling "I found GZ"

When I was about half-way over to him he had spotted the cache and claimed the find.
Okay, so we were all complaining about the "wild cache chase".  Maybe it is time to change the batteries on the GPS. It helped a lot!


We signed the log and bushwacked our way back to the main trail.



When we got back to the main trail, we checked the GPS to see which was closest, the next cache or part 2 of the multi. It showed that the next cache was closest. So off we went to find Lucky Memorial Cache. I was holding the GPS and it said to go left, but hubby said the directions were to take the trail that broke off of the main trail. I didn't realize it at the time but it was about 20 feet from where we parked the car. We kept getting further and further away from the cache. We passed right by the second part of the multi and didn't realize it.
We finally got going the right direction on the right trail, up and down the hills just about as far as we had just walked on the other trail.

GZ led us to a nice viewpoint and there were some sticks that looked like they were placed as a memorial to their dog lucky.

The cache was found in the nook of a rock under some pine needles just like the clue said. We were all looking around in the crevices until I had hubby read the clue one more time and realized it said nook. So I looked for a nook and found the cache.




I was getting pretty tired by this time, we had been hiking around for more than an hour and a half. We headed back toward the car along the trail with the co-ordinates to the second part of the multi in the GPS. I was dreading going all the way back around where we had just came from. So when the GPS said the cache was off to the right we headed cross country.

We found this grave site along our way, possibly another pet cemetery.










And sure enough we were back to the original main trail, we found the log site that the clues pointed us too and with a little bit of searching, I finally claimed the find.

But that isn't the end of our Bear Lake caching adventure. One more to finish it up. We didn't have the coordinates but I knew it was right along the road we were parked on and it was a memorial stone.


Old School


There it is! A quick find by AA and a picture and we were on our way.

That is the end of our Bear lake adventure but not the end of our geocaching for the day. That story is the next blog post.

Date Night

What is a more fun way to spend a date night than grabbing a quick bite to eat and geocaching. We found 4 of the 5 we looked for tonight. it gets dark so early anymore that we don't have much time to look in the light, but I always carry around my flashlight so no problems. :)

This one is End of The Road #82

While I was waiting for hubby to find GZ(ground zero) with the GPS, I spotted this log and thought, 'what a great place to hide a cache'. I love kool looking logs and rocks and stuff so I always have to get a picture. The flashlight did come in handy in scoring the find. I wasn't going to reach my hand in a dark place until I had checked it out with the flashlight first. :)

This one is Some Random Place 2.

We looked around and finally narrowed GZ to being this tree. The clue told us to look up. We looked and looked and couldn't see it and finally determined that we were going to have to climb the tree in order to find the cache. There were too many muggles* that kept driving by and so I didn't want to climb the tree. Greg contemplated it even though he was wearing his suit and dress shoes. He attempted but didn't get far in those dress shoes. Can you just picture it: him in his business suit or me, an almost 50 yr old grandma climbing that tree while the passerbys were wondering what in the ... we were doing. LOL Okay, I guess we will have to come back tomorrow and bring our teen daughter with us to climb the tree. That is a "did not find" for now. On to the next one....
This one is Dads Day 2009 #2.

We pull up to basic area and I start searching the rocks and the bushes. No luck! The GPS keeps registering a GZ at that light post. We look and look but there is no way. There is just nothing that looks remotely like a cache. We were bound and determined to not get another "not found". Just as we were about to give up, hubby grabs the base of the light and we realize it is loose. It lifts up. I never would have imagined! And there it was! I spotted the cache. We signed the log and were on our way. And then we thought back to those in California that we couldn't find and realize there were lights posts there too. Now we know!
Our adventure is not over for the night, we also found Cracklin Rosie. It was a quick find. I had it spotted as we drove up to the spot and had it retrieved before hubby could get out of the car.

One more find for the night was Park&Login. In the Winco parking lot. It was another quick find but only because we knew the secret after Dads Day.