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??