BIRTHDAY CACHE BASH #2

Last month we went geocaching (actually it was an eating to the point of being foundered excursion) for BatikFeak10's birthday. This month was no different. On May 30th we headed out to celebrate my 17th birthday for the 4th time and while the food intake was less than before, it was still approaching that coveted "wretched excess" level. Read on:

We (the usual crowd consisting of Wiscongranny--Joyce, BatikFreak10--sister Sally, and me--Woodhick803) started the festivities off with (take a wild guess--oh go ahead it's alright) FOOD, at Campestre, our favorite Mexican Restaurant when in the Beckley area. This time we managed to restrain ourselves and not throw caution to the winds and order those extra large desserts right after our meal. That would come later.

Our caching afternoon turned out to be a highly successful one--7 finds for 7 tries. While not a long all day caching marathon, we were pleased with our results and finds and learned a little about the Beckley area while on the hunt. It's surprising how you can have lived the first 20 or so years of your life in one place and still find things you never knew before about home.

All pictures courtesy of BatikFreak10.

One of our first searches for the day took us to a small (and fairly new) memorial park right in the center of Beckley WV. This is Beckley's keep sake from the 9/11/2001 Twin Towers, and none of us knew this was in place in our little town. It's burnt, scarred and twisted and not happy. And no, we will never forget.

Simply turning around gave us a view of this little man. If the statue is life sized, then General Alfred Beckley (a West Point grad and founder of Beckley WV) was indeed a man small in stature. And I gotta tell ya gang, IMHO, he doesn't look like a General, but an accountant. But that's just my opinion. Our cache find was quick and fairly easy. On to other caches.

Later in our afternoon of searching and finding, we found this memorial to a terrible mining disaster near the little town of Eccles WV. In 1914, the second worst mining disaster and loss of life ever to occur in WV's checked mining past occurred at the Eccles # 5 & 6 mines. This memorial has been placed to commemorate the loss of those 186 miners who died under the ground in the dark. Read more here. Our cache find was nearby and we did not have to disturb the quiet of this sad memorial. Again, something we knew nothing about until now.

Our caching afternoon came quickly to a close at the local Sweet Frog Frozen Yogurt stand. Sweet Frog has become our favorite "ice cream" stand. If you've never tried frozen yogurt the stuff is lighter than regular ice cream, even our vaunted Durry Queen. So much so that Joyce and I had to go back for seconds. After all, it was my birthday, right??

BIRTHDAY CACHE BASH

A few days ago we got to help BatikFreak10 celebrate her ___ birthday.  She can tell you how old she is (hint, prepare to be shocked, shocked I say).  We...she... had decided that we were to spend her special day geocaching and having a little lunch.  What happened only roughly followed her plan.  And no photographs were taken during what turned out to be a day of wretched excess, and very little geocaching.  The scenes were too, well, excessive to be photographed.

We gathered at Sally's home just before lunch time and decided to have our meal at Dobra Zupas, a new small diner located near the site of the old Beckley train station.  Sally had tried this one once before and was pleased, today would be no exception.  The sandwiches were fresh, plentiful and well made.  Then the server (one of the owners as it turns out) just had to bring up the fact that they had just made an angel food cake and it was available with fresh strawberries.  And there was fresh made key lime pie too.  And our day immediately went to "heck" in a bucket at that point and all caution and good sense was thrown to the wind.  The strawberry short cake was short in name only.  The cake was still warm and showed up in several thick slabs, the berries fresh and plentiful.  The key lime pie was equally as good.

Finally we staggered out the door and into the car for an afternoon of successful cache finding.

What followed was all Joyces' fault.  After each and every cache she would plead that it was ice cream time.  About two hours into our caching (this day started out to be a geocaching day remember??) day Sally had to mention that we were near our fave ice cream place when in Beckley...no not  the "Durry" Queen.  Belacinos Pizza.  Actually this is not as crazy as it sounds, the Beckley Belacinos has a nice side addition--one of those counters where you can order your ice cream mixed and matched with dozens of toppings.  But when we arrived at the shopping center for our ice cream at the pizza parlor, Sally just had to point out an even newer place.  A frozen yogurt stand by the name of Sweet Frog Frozen Yogurt (click on the link for a short news item and video of the store).

We were like kids in a..well in a frozen yogurt store I guess.  We ordered yogurt by the ounce (I got to have actual original tart yogurt tasting frozen yogurt).  The bill came to $12.00.  No not just for mine, that would be excessive, silly.  We pigged out of cups of yogurt (yogurt is too healthful) and staggered out of the store.  Geocaching was over for the day.  We were helplessly stuffed.   None of this was my fault.

Sally can tell you about getting shaken down by a panhandler earlier in the day.

WHEN THE RAIN GETS GOING, THE CRAZY GO TRAVEL BUGGING

Rain!! Miles!! More rain!! Travel bugs!! No rain!! Geocaches!! And more miles!!

Anyhow, that's what Saturday last seemed like. I left home early Saturday morning to pick up BatikFraeak10 (worthy sister) for a long day's drive (well over 400 miles round trip) in order to attend our first ever Geocaching organized event.

In case you have forgotten, travel bugs are those little bits of metal attached to any suitable and semi-attractive object-think Hot Wheels cars or tiny dolls or other figures. The "TB's" (as they are known) are sent into the world of geocahing to do various and sundry travels and to meet diverse goals and objectives. Our first ever organized event would be a gathering of dedicated geocachers to place many (56 as it turned out) travel bugs in a specific geocache. The TB's would then be entered in a year long race to see which ones could accumulate the most miles during the 365 day period.

Along the way, and while we were in the neighborhood so to speak, we managed to travel over into both Kentucky and Ohio in order to grab a very few ordinary geocaches and get our electronic awards for caching in those states.

Mostly a photo display but ride along. Bring your umbrella.

Down the WV Turnpike we go in the driving rain.

But by the time we were in Charleston WV, the State Capital, the rain had ceased. Super cool, because our event gathering is only a few miles away.

A new (for us) type of travel bug. You can actually record this, and the other new and odd types of TB's we saw at the Geocaching.com travel bug home page.

Signing up. The SUV in the far background (raised rear gate) is the collection point for our travel bugs.

This is also a real TB and can be logged as found. It attaches magnetically to the owner's vehicle. A regular TB is only about an inch and a half long-quite a bit more convenient

Your's truly waiting patiently in line to send my travel bugs...who knows where.

Yet another travel bug variation.

Heading home from Ohio and our successful finds in two new states.

Nearing Beckley and back to wet roads but no more rain.




Thanks to BatikFreak10 for taking the traveling as well as several other pictures. A great, if a trifle long, day.

WINTER'S OVER, LET'S GO EAT, I MEAN GEOCACHING

It's been a long time since we last went out geocaching, at least it seems so. It's time to go out searching for those little hidden containers and treasures. But let's go eat first. At least that's how it seems.

I have to admit that when BatikFreak10 (dear little sis), Wiscongranny (wife Joyce), and I go geocaching food is seldom not far--in fact never far--from our minds. I think we all secretly keep one eye on our watches and only look out for caches as a secondary effort. In other words we're true members of the George family.

This is not the first find of the day, but rather a nice hide of what is known as a "Bison Tube". Don't ask me why.

What's different is that this one is hidden up above eye level. Almost without exception hides are down in or on the ground. Simply putting one up in a tree makes it much more difficult to find. Habit dictates were we look fist.

No this isn't the first cache of the day either, but very nearly the last one. This was a fun hide because the cache was a mini in a magnetic key box. Now where can a magnetic key box be attached to this old Patton Tank?? Think like just about anywhere. We did find the cache after a few minutes of searching and clue reading, but only after minute examination of the proper area of the vehicle.

This concludes the caching portion of this post. Let's go eat.

When we first arrived in the Bluefield WV/VA area BatikFreak10 just "happened" to mention that the local Dairy Queen--we seem to gravitate to the very worst of junk food establishments for sustenance during caching trips-- had an exceptionally tasty menu, we knew where we would be heading for lunch, but BF10 and I were a little taken by surprise when, after our very first find, Wiscongranny asked "Can we go eat now"?? While it did seem like a good idea (there were moments of silent introspection) we did manage to find a few more caches before succumbing to the inevitable and heading for the local "DQ". And there we instantly became...

Like kids in a candy store.

Mounds of that All American Junk Food (the hot dog) with layers of chilli, onions, mustard, and slaw were ordered. French Fries?? This DQ has some (speaking as a long term taste tester of french fries) outstanding fries, not at all greasy and in admirable quantity per serving ("we only have one size" the counter girl said). But we all ordered only water to drink ("I'm trying to cut back" we all said).

And then Joyce (I'm sure it wasn't me) said...

"Are we going to have ice cream"??

ARE WE GOING TO HAVE ICE CREAM"?? Dairy Queen is the home of the Blizzard, 8 ounces (in our case) of ice cream (is DQ soft serve actually ice cream??), various mixtures of goodies--usually involving some quantity of chocolate--of your choice and even whipped cream for the ultimate dessert treat.

"ARE WE GOING TO HAVE ICE CREAM"??

Silly Rabbit, Blizzards are for kids. And we sure were kids Thursday when we went eating, uhh geocaching.

We really overdid the junk food and ice cream treats. But we did manage to find some nice caches, then it became supper time...

BAIT & SWITCH

We're like fish I guess, or maybe small animals. We respond to bait, something that is attractive in some fashion and draws us to a place, or way of acting, or even that waiting hook.

Those waiting geocaches are surely the bait. We enjoy finding them, dangling there attractively. Waiting to pull us in. Tuesday November 1 was the day Joyce, Sally, and I took the bait and went on another of our day long geocaching adventures. The switch comes later on.

First off was the Whipple Company Store, Whipple WV. I'm sure you know where that is, right?? It's an old coal company town outside of Oak Hill. The old building is the only one of it's type still existent and is an architectural gem. It's all wood and I'm sure it is an absolute tinder box, being over 120 years old. We found the cache and were quickly on our way.

Next stop Fayetteville, and the statue honoring the Marquis de Lafayette for the first stop on a three part multi-stage cache. No joy on this one. Some as yet unidentified mistake led us down an incorrect path for the third and final stage. Oh well, we'll check our math, recalculate, and return to the area in the future. "Multis", caches with more than one stop necessary to find the hidden treasure, are a welcome change from the normal way of geocaching. More work equals more fun, or more room for error in this case.

Not all caches seem aptly named. This one, outside Summersville WV is called "Nice View". What has happened here is that the Corp of Engineers, who have responsibility for operating Summersville Lake (I never knew you could operate a lake but there it is) have drawn the level down more than 50 feet below normal winter pool in order to inspect the Summersville Dam (aka the Gad Dam), a once every decade operation. So what we are seeing is something out of the ordinary as it turns out. Find it, sign it, and travel on.

Checking out the signage for the trail to another find.

Joyce heads out to seek another hide. This trip sent us in the direction of several differing types of caches--multis, the usual guardrail quicky, hides in the woods. Caches in new and shiny boxes, forlorn and soaking abandoned children awaiting adoption. Generally a good mix. Even a couple of DNFs.

Do you know where this restaurant is located?? Me neither, but I might be able to find it again. It's the Longpoint Bar & Grill outside Summersville and it's the switch of this post. We had planned to dine in Summersville at the, yep you guessed it, "Durry" Queen. Instead we happened to pass the Longpoint and noted that it was open. We really didn't expect too much when we pulled in, just the usual pre-prepared junk burgers and hot dogs. I suppose you can get that at the Longpoint, but why would you want to. We found a nice bowl of brown beans (hillbilly soul food no less), real honest-to-goodness home made corn bread and then actual honest to God scratch made cakes. I've never liked carrot cake--until now--and probably will never find the like of what we found at the Longpoint Bar & Grill again. Excellent food in a completely unexpected place.

Bait & Switch, geocaching the bait and the Longpoint Bar & Grill the switch. A great day in all respects.

A NOTE FROM LUKE

Today I received a note and several pictures from my Grandson Luke. Luke is interested in geocaching and urban exploring and is a skilled welder and something of an artist in metal. Here's his note and my my captions for his photos:

I thought you might enjoy a peak at my new tool and a few of my treasures. Through geocaching, hiking, and general exploring I have found myself in need of a small excavation tool for bones or small artifacts. I made this trowel as a result. It folds up with the hex tool in the handle to fit in my bag quite nicely (next to my pocket microscope and monocular.)

Not sure if you are or ever were a Doctor Who fan, but the case I made for the unit is the TARDIS.

I cleaned and mounted the raccoon skull and vertebrae myself. I'm currently working on a deer jaw and a few vertebrae.

The last picture is of my treasures. Some of it are objects from caches, others are artifacts from urban exploring or hiking. The clip on the left hand corner came from the ruins of a house from somewhere around 1929. That was the what the date stamped on the half buried sink said anyways.

My friends just call me a nerd, but I figured you might have some appreciation for this stuff :)

Check out the TARDIS here. I didn't know what it was either.

JOYCE'ES BIG DAY

6-3-3 Remember those numbers, they're important. More later.

Geocaching has a funny way of acting sometimes. Some days you're hot and some days you're not when you think in terms of being able to find the hide.

When BatikFreak10 (sister Sally), Wiscongranny (wife Joyce) and I get together to go cache hunting our competitiveness quickly comes to the surface. We're all competitive. We like games and compete with each other almost every time we're together, on one level or another. Who can make the cleverest play on words? Who can find the wittiest response? Who can get out of the truck and find the cache first? We seem to be like 10 year olds at times. Of course, this is all part of the fun and it ties back into being hot one day and cold the next when hunting those hidden boxes of ( more or less) worthless swag* (*stuff we all get) and a (usually) wet log book.

Here I'm just breaking in to one of my cache finds. This one contains some nice swag, but as usual we did not take anything home as a souvenir. Finding the cache is much more important than taking anything home.

Sometimes we find a treasure not confined in a box. With summer quickly closing, this find of flowers will soon be gone until next year. Winter will arrive with its own caching pleasures: Being able to see rocks and views hidden since last winter come to mind. Frozen ink pens will have to be replaced with pencils for logging cache visits by those not already in the know. GPS'es, cameras, and cell phones will have to be stored inside layers of coats and sweaters and exposed to the elements only briefly--batteries and cold do not play well together.

BatikFreak10 displays some nice swag, although she chose not to add this monkey to her collections.

And now for Joyce'es day.

When I mentioned above that sometimes you're hot and sometimes not, Joyce was definitely hot on our Sunday outing. BF10 & I would be searching around, turning over rocks, digging under rotting logs and generally upsetting the resident insect population when Joyce would stroll up and simply point to a spot and say "It's right there, can't you see it?" And she was always right.

Things that were seemingly invisible were suddenly made clear. The lost was found. The obscure made obvious. Sheesh!!

It is a funny thing, the way it is seemingly one persons turn more than the others during any given caching outing, but it seems to be true. And Joyce was definitely having her turn Sunday.

6-3-3, the count for the day. Yes, we keep a count during each and every outing, to see who is having that hot day. At the end of the day the score was Joyce 6 finds, Sally and Dan three each. And no DNF's (did not finds) at all!!

And the really important thing is that we all had a good time being together.