Anyone going Geocaching this weekend? **NEW CACHERS...POP IN!**

[lilallybean]

Sounds like we have all been very busy! You would think that with all the cold temps we would have to slow down...LOL!
I was shocked to see that little Erin is almost a year old! It seems like we were just hearing about her arriving! How did that happen? Is it just me or does it seem that the years go by faster the older you get?
Mike, I am sorry to hear about your BC. Being a search and rescue dog I am sure that she touched several hearts.
The babies all seem to be doing great. They are starting to do 'carseat tests' on the babies. They have to be able to sit up in their carseats for 1 hour without an heart decells. So they are getting there.
Hope everybody is feeling better now and staying warm!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Glad to hear that the babies are doing great and improving!

lilallybean, I hate to break it to you. We have had temps of 73-75 degrees here the past five days or so. But it is supposed to drop and get much colder by tomorrow night.

Happy caching!

 

[MiJo]

Hi,
That's good news about the babies! Yes, it's hard to believe Erin is 11 months old today. Time does seem to go by faster as we get older.
It looks like our Pineapple Cache may be missing again. That would be the 3rd or 4th time it has "walked" away, if it is really gone. I will have to check on it later today. This time, we placed it in a different spot and used a technique that should have kept a critter from taking it, so it's possible we have an individual who doesn't want a cache in this particular park. If it is gone, we won't be replacing it.
We made our ressies for our upcoming vacation! We will be spending 2 nights in Pensacola Beach visiting our son and then heading over to POR for 2 nights and a day in the parks. After that, we are going to visit relatives in Cape Canaveral for a few days. We are hoping to grab a cache or two in AL since we will be so close so we can claim that state. Anyway, we leave Saturday, Feb 3rd, and return the following Friday night. We're looking forward to it!
Good caching, Everyone!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Sorry to hear that the pinecone is gone again. That's annoying. I don't blame you for not replacing it again. I had a nano at a Cracker Barrel here. With a good rain, it would get knocked off it's usual place. Went and found it and replaced a couple times. Forget it! LOL! The next time when it needed a log, I went to look and couldn't find it anywhere. Gone! That's it for me. Someone else can place a cache at that Cracker Barrel...and I'll search for it!

FL plans sound good! POR was the place we stayed on our first trip. And it was my favorite place to stay. I'm starting to get itchy to take a trip myself. Of course, after the holidays, I don't have much vacation time right now. Ugh. Maybe a weekend trip to MD and DE. Will have to at least think about it.

Happy caching!!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Everyone doing okay? Anyone caching? Anyone have SNOW and caching? We were supposed to have some snow on Sunday night, but it missed us. Bummer!

I'm starting to think about what cache to hunt for number 1,000. If things go right, I should hit that number in February. Pretty neat since that is my birth month. And I think I have to start thinking of heading up to Northern Virginia. Seems I've done quite a bit out in Midlothian and Chesterfield. Not too thrilled hitting the city of Richmond itself. Maybe head north. LOL!

Any good stories?

 

[lilallybean]

I have not been out in so long I don't know if I will remember how to turn on the GPS! I do plan on attending an event/race that my brother is hosting this weekend. It should be fun, but it is SOOOO cold out! This morning we have a windchill of -2! No snow, but maybe this weekend. I love the winter but I sure miss going out hunting!

Congrats on getting so close to 1,000!!! I was happy getting to 250. We are starting to plan our summer vacation. It is funny that I now consider if there are any caches nearby when figuring out where we should go!
Well, time to get to work. Have a great day everybody!

 

[ElizK]

I set my DH up at Christmas with everything he needs for us to go geocaching. We have had such fun with this, and seem a lot of areas that are very near us that we didn't know were there! What a great family activity. I have this slight problem, though. I'm all about the find. DH is good about keeping it fun for everyone. I have to remind myself to slow down and just enjoy being out together.


eta: we're on about find 16, I think.

 

[lilallybean]

ElizK, way to go! That is a good start! What geo name are you using? I think I am alot like you. I really like to get the find! We have found some great areas that I would have missed if I had not been out geocaching, but at the same time when I 'get' it I am thrilled!
Welcome to our happy little group of cachers here. We would all love to hear more about your adventures.
Happy hunting!!!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Congrats on 250, lilallybean! Every milestone is a great one!! If it's not TOO cold, I wouldn't mind caching in the snow. But I would NOT be going for any FTFs. LOL! I'd be looking for the footprints to the cache! Planning a trip of any sort sounds familiar. LOL! I'm ready to run a pocket query for a route between here and northern VA. Maybe I won't have to go that far up to find a decent amount of them.

ElizK...Welcome to Geocaching! Glad to hear that you're having fun with it! Yes, sometimes the numbers get in the way of noting what a good time you're having. LOL! I know someone who is "all about the numbers" as his friend says. He just started last May and already has just over 900 finds. Holy cow!!! When he felt he ran dry in this area, he moved to...Colorado! LOL! Time for a new state! Too funny.

When I first started caching, I was new to this area. I thought it would be a great way to find my way around and see where things are. It's certainly shown me that. Learned my way around very well thanks to it. And it does take you to some beautiful places!! Even within a city. One of my favorites is Soldiers and Sailors out in Richmond. (Look that one up when you have a chance.) Beautiful view of the James River and even the city itself. Here it is...

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=b6e1101e-eb98-4879-b9c8-ceb5165dd021

Well, better run. Have a GREAT day!

Happy caching!

 

[MiJo]

Well, we're all packed and ready to head down to Florida tomorrow! We are really hoping the weather holds up in Newark and Atlanta. We'll be spending the weekend in Pensacola with our Navy son and we're hoping to do a cache or two in Alabama. Monday, we'll be heading over to Orlando and we have a few caches stored in the GPSr for Georgia, which isn't too far out of the way. We'll be spending a couple days at Disney (POR) and heading over to Cape Canaveral for 3 days with cousins. This will be our 3rd trip to POR and we're sorta hoping we get the AB this time around as we were in the Mansions last time. We are really looking forward to it.
We didn't get out caching this past weekend so we hope to grab a couple while we're away.
lilallybean: Congrats on 250! We hit that one a while back and we're still going for 300. The past 6 months haven't been good caching months for us.
ElizK: Good move! What is your caching name? You'll really enjoy this hobby!
Sandy: It's amazing you're closing in on 1000 so quickly! You really DO enjoy our hobby!
I guess that's about it. I'll post if when we get back.
Good caching, everyone!

 

[ElizK]

We are "K&Co."

So many of the caches around here are micros, and lots of them are "park and grab". We really like the larger caches, and the ones that require more walking to get to.

Have you done any virtual caches? We were led to an old cemetary with grave cairns that are possibly the oldest grave cairns in Texas. And only 5 miles from my house! Who knew? It was amazing, and we really enjoyed sharing that history with one of our daughters (the other was out with a friend that day).

 

[lilallybean]

Looked up K&Co and you have a nice start going! WTG!!! I was in Texas a couple months ago and I also found that there were lots of micros. What is up with that? I thought things were bigger in Texas! I did several in the College Station area. I did find a few larger ones. Our geo name is JonesCrew. If you ever plan a caching day in that area let me know and I will tell you some that we enjoyed.

I sure hope you enjoy your time with your son and your time at WDW! Sounds like a great few days planned! How many different states do you have now?

I still can not get over 1,000 finds!!! How long have you been playing?

So far my brother's event for tomorrow is still on. It is going to be SOOOOO cold! we have a few inches of snow and the windchill has been in the single digits!

Well I better get back to the babies. They are 1 month old today!!! For the next 3-4 hours I will be here alone with all three!!! I am sure we will do just fine.

Hope to hear more from you all soon!

 

[MiJo]

Hi Everyone,
Well, we're back from balmy Florida and "enjoying" our 25 degree temps here in PA! We spent the first weekend with our son, who is stationed at NAS Pensacola. We got a condo on Pensacola Beach and he spent a couple nights with us. We had a great time even though he had a bad cold/bronchitis. He is feeling much better now. He finished in a tie for top grade in his class so he was entered into the Navy's Accelerated Advancement Program, which means he will be promoted to E-3 when he graduates this week. He will also be eligible for E-4 in a few months without taking a test. He was also given the opportunity to choose his next duty assignment and he picked NAF Washington, DC, which apparently means he will be stationed at Edwards AFB in Maryland, about a 4 hour drive from home!

We managed to grab one cache in Pensacola Beach, one in GA (our first in that state), and we actually got a couple FTF's in Cape Canaveral! The cachers down there must not be as aggressive as our group around here. We didn't have as much time for caching as we had hoped, which always seems to be the case, but we did get to do some, which is better than nothing.

We also made it to WDW for a couple nights and we managed to visit all 4 parks in one day! We didn't do a whole lot in any of them but we did have a good time. I got to do Expedition Everest, which I was looking forward to, and enjoyed it. As usual, POR was great, despite the food court being renovated. We also got to visit Kennedy Space Center, which was interesting. It was also nice to visit our Michigan cousins at their winter condo in Cape Canaveral.

lilallybean: How'd your brother's event go? Our local group has a breakfast coming up but we probably won't be able to make it.

ElizK: We have done several virtual caches, a few benchmarks (including one in Florida while on vacation), some waypoints and one or two earth caches. Our couple of our virtuals were in WDW a few years back.

Sandy: Have you hit #1000 yet? That's quite a milestone!

As it turns out, out Pineapple Cache was not MIA. The cacher who couldn't find it just missed it, even with a hint, and she thinks someone took it and put it back. We don't know what happened.

We also have a lot of micros in our area. That is mostly due to our cache thief a few years back. He took a very large number of caches, mostly ammo boxes, so a lot of us began hiding micros to cut back on costs. He was eventually found and confronted, which stopped the thievery.

I guess that's it. Good caching, everyone!

 

[Pin Wizard]

I was in Texas a couple months ago and I also found that there were lots of micros. What is up with that? I thought things were bigger in Texas!

I'm so tired of micros! I swear there must be a shortage of ammo cans. Around here they're putting micros in the woods WITHOUT A HINT! And we seem to have a burst of newbies that can't get their numbers accurate. The seasoned people are saying 30+ feet off. I'm skipping them! It's slim pickings around here. I even went to the local park yesterday and picked up the two caches in the "Cottonmouth Habitat" area. Now all I have left there are the ones on my "I'm not doing these caches" list. LOL! Two require a boat, the other takes you all over for a multi. Geez! A couple people said you might want to call a cab at the final stage to take you back to your car. LOL! Way too much work for one smilie! I've been caching since May 2005.

Welcome back, Mike! Rats! I wanted to get on here and wish you a good trip! I missed that and you're back! Glad you had a bunch of fun. Just reading about it seems like it flew!! I'm sure it did for you.

No, I haven't hit 1,000 yet. I'm at 975. Twenty-five to go! First, I wanted to hit it in February. Then in the past few days I decided I want to hit that number on my birthday...which is Thursday! I better get busy!!! So many are on my not doing list. I'll try Chesapeake today. There just doesn't seem to be many decent ones left. I'm ready to head to Northern VA soon. Definitely need a new area. Maybe I'll take a long weekend from work and head there. We'll see.

Neat that your son will be stationed in MD. Wooooooo hoooooooooo!! Nice he'll be so close to home. Soon you'll be caching in MD, too.

ElizK...I'll have to check your profile. Virtuals are fun! Earthcaches are a lot of fun, too. Although they're fewer and farther between. We have two over on the Eastern Shore. Have gotten one of them. Need a trip there for the other.

Mike...In the past couple weeks there was something posted on the Central VA Geocaching board about caches vanishing along I-95. Haven't heard anything since.

I guess I better start entering waypoints. Have a GREAT day, everyone! Happy caching!!

 

[lilallybean]

Wow! Sounds like a great trip Mike. HUGE congrats to your son! That is very impressive!!! It also sounds great that he will be that close to you!
How many states have you been able to cache in so far? So far we only have 4. We hope to add a few more this summer. I am glad that your pineapple cache is not missing. It would be very frustraing to put all that work into it just for it to be taken.
Sandy---I can't believe you did the cotton mouth ones!!! No way would I do those! Yikes I have to say you are really brave! (or maybe just crazy! just kidding)
Well, my brother ended up cancelling his event. It was way too cold and too much ice to do it. So it has been resched for st. Pat's day, which will be good since it is my brother's birthday.
We spent the weekend at my sisters house and helped her with the babies again. They are changing so fast! I bought them some overalls to wear when I take them caching! They have a little compass, map, and hiking boots stitched on them. TOO CUTE!

 

[lilallybean]

LOL...just had to post again! Saw that I was at 499 posts....so I like watching my numbers!

 

[MiJo]

So far, we have found caches in:
PA, NJ, DE, MD, VA, WVA, NC, SC, GA, FL.
We had opportunities for IL, WI and AL but missed out for various reasons.
I would like to spend a weekend touring New England this summer in order to hit those states. I don't know why we haven't done NY yet since it's only an hour east of us.
Do those overalls come in adult x-large? They sound like they're made for caching?
I would have been leery of those cottonmouth caches, too. We did one in GA last week and there were some warnings about the possibility of snakes. I didn't tell my DW until after we found it 'cause she probably wouldn't have wanted to chance it. It was cool, around 50 degrees, and we didn't see any. so everything was fine.
Our son might get his official orders today. If so, it's possible he could be leaving Pensacola as early as Thursday or Friday. He's pretty excited.
I guess that's it. Good caching, everyone!

 

[Pin Wizard]

We did it! We hit 1,000!!!!!! And we did it this past weekend in Northern VA. Drove up on Friday morning, and came home Sunday afternoon. Just had to make that number "Gold & Iron." (GCHJFW) What a FUN multi! We had to go through a mall collecting information to get the right numbers. The numbers made up a Dewey Decimal number. Then you had to go to a particular library and find the book with that number, which also was entitled the same as the name of the cache. It took us two trips to the library and some e-mailing with the owner since we couldn't find the book the first time around. I originally had one number wrong in it. We had to find the number of a neighborhood in the mall. I saw a number of a neighborhood straight in front of me, but that wasn't it. Who knew they would include the food court as a "neighborhood"? LOL! Oops! Now I'm in the mood to take a LOT of road trips. Except for boarding the pets! We sure did miss them, and Max is still giving me the cold shoulder. Had a FANTASTIC time up there though!!

 

[SplshMtn99]

Congrats!

I sure wish she lived further south so we could cache year round. Don't get me wrong, we do cache year round, but its harder with snow on the ground. Yesterday, walking on frozen snow was like walking on ice while caching. Today, its melted, & it was like walking in beach sand. Makes for slow going.

Started in Aug 2002 & we only have 320. I'm ALWAYS wanting to go, but DH is either busy or not around. Bugs me. Most caches around here are in the woods, so I don't like to go alone for safey reasons. A woman fell last year caching (just simply slipped on pine needles) & it took rescue over an hour to find her. She's lucky she had cell service where she was. Lots of pins in her leg & one year later, she's back to caching.

We really have no excuse though. Lots of other people around here have hit 1000 & have started after us. DH just is a wimp when it comes to going out in the cold.

I just got us all set up for paperless caching, so I'm HOPING to increase our numbers. I figure with all the cache info in the PDA & GPS now, all I have to do is see what's close to where ever we are. No longer have to worry about printing & downloading ahead of time.

 

[Pin Wizard]

lilallybean...I like watching numbers, too! And it's neat that your brother will hold an event on his birthday! Wooo hooo!! What fun! I know up where we were last weekend, there were so many caches FROZEN beneath the FROZEN snow! We started out at a park in the morning. That experience had me cross all the park visits off the list. Between the FROZEN snow that was literally a sheet of glass, and the trails being completely covered and we hadn't a clue where they were, and the downward slope to those caches (LOL!) we skipped them. There was even one that was under a staircase outside of a building. FROZEN snow was under the steps! Could only chip away at the snow, couldn't break through it. I see that someone finally did yesterday. Never mind a metal detector. I'll cache with a battery operated heater!!

Glad to hear that the babies are growing so much! Their caching outfits sound adorable!!!

Mike...Has your son left FL yet?

Happy caching!