2013 Goal Recap

To put it in as few words as possible, I missed quite a few goals this year. I'll attribute this to my surgery in the later part of the year, but that is just a small piece of the puzzle.

Find 150 caches:

45%

Find caches in 1 countries:

0 %

Find caches in 5 states:

220 %

Finds for each day of the year:

33 %

Road Trip 2013 - Day 8

No caching today, but we made it back to Dallas and are so happy to be home!

Road Trip 2013 - Day 7

Today we drove into Arkansas, to stay in Little Rock. We had a couple of nice stops on the way to the city.





After dinner, we explored and found a neat bridge we could walk on near the Clinton Presidential Library. There just happened to be a cache in the middle of the bridge: I used to Rock!.

Road Trip 2013 - Day 6

Today we drove into Kentucky to take a train ride. Of course, we found caches along the way. And it was FREEZING outside, so that added some challenges. We found a cache right on the border or Kentucky and Tennessee: Welcome to Kentucky.



We also stopped when we neared the train station and found a cute cache: Roosting At The General Store. When we went inside to get warm again, the store owner asked us about if we found it. Neat and cozy store.

We also found a cache right outside the station, thankfully before there were a lot of muggles: Sweet Destination. Then we jumped on the train and took a fun ride.

Road Trip 2013 - Day 5

Today was a drive to Tennessee, and we found our first cache on the state border - so awesome and glad there weren't muggles: Walk the line.



We also stopped at a few along the way, including at the store near Cherohala Skyway Visitor Center for Geocacher's where I bought a new bag for my crochet supplies.

And, probably the neatest stop of the day, but where sadly the cache eluded us: RIP Plane. Totally neat.

Road Trip 2013 - Day 4

Since we stayed in Blue Ridge, we decided to find the caches hidden there. A lot of these, sadly, were in bad repair. But we did find a few before giving in to the colder weather.

• 4th Commandment
• The Hungry Lion
• American Owned
• Windy Ridge Park and Grab
• Down by the tracks
• Homers Toolshed

Road Trip 2013 - Day 3

Not much caching on day 3 - mainly enjoying Blue Ridge. But we did find one easy cache while out grabbing something we forgot to pack: I never promised you a rose garden!.

Road Trip 2013 - Day 2

For day 2, we drove from Jackson, MS to Blue Ridge, GA. The first cache we found was still in Mississippi, and we stopped cause the name of the town is Chunky. This cache was actually hard, too - not a park and grab for sure! Was very happy when we found it: Exit 121.

We then found a few caches in Alabama, too.

Road Trip 2013 - Day 1

Evan and I just took a road trip that went through many states, and on our first day, we drove from Dallas, TX to Jackson, MS. We decided we wanted to find a cache in every state we drove through, so we started our first day with caches in both Louisiana and Mississippi.

The cache in Louisiana was fun for us because it was across the street from a club with the same name as our oldest cat. The cache was also awesome, as they put a decoy in the most obvious spot and we had to spend a few more minutes searching to locate the real cache: Traditional Cache In God We Trust (All others strictly cache!).



We continued the drive to Jackson, and after dinner, did some more caching.



The hardest cache for me was near a church, and was really hard mainly because it was dark out: Quiet View.

Night caching in San Antonio

After some introductory geocaching, Rachel and Nese got interested in the idea of going geocaching at night. So I looked up some night caches in the area and was sad that San Antonio doesn't seem to have as many of these as Dallas. I did find two fairly close together about a 15 minute drive away, so we headed out for those. Jason's sister and boyfriend joined us as well (for their first caches). So, we were a happy group of seven going to find these.



The first cache was a little longer of a walk and once we got going, everyone took turns taking the lead. We only had five flashlights, so this was careful going. However, it was well maintained and full of lots of goodies at the end. Starry Night ~ Night Cache.

The second cache was fun as well, although we had a hard time with the trail. On the way back, after finally backtracking and finding the right way, we found a missing marker on the ground, which probably explains the difficulties. Glow Worm Night Cache.

Caching in San Antonio

We spent Labor Day weekend in San Antonio with some friends, Rachel and Jason. We also got to meet their new roommate, Nese. After a party with some of Rachel's co-workers, we took a short detour and found a cache on the side of the road - a quick find and intro to geocaching for Nese: Cache with a Name.

The next day, we were looking for quirky things to do in San Antonio, and I found a few interesting places to go and see. In the end, only one was really all that interesting, and even though we didn't go there looking for a cache, we certainly found one: Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Museum. Barney is way nice and has so much history here. Pieces of the Berlin Wall, the Challenger, and seven lids of geocacher signatures :-)

Random find on geocaching boards

I was asking to name the theme song of my life for a survey at work, so I started looking for geocaching songs cause I really had no idea what to say. While searching, I came across a list of the Top 50 Geocaching Songs, which seriously made me laugh. I hope you enjoy!

More caching in Chicago

Again, we were up earlier than necessary, so we decided to cache. A lovely way to spend a beautiful day. I found a series call I Love Chicago, so we started looking for some of those.

The first three were in a park with a lot of green space and sculptures/status. I like walking around here because while Dallas has parks, none are like this and our weather isn't quite so lovely, either.



We then headed a little way down the road to yet another pretty park, this one seeming to be its own little island (I Love Chicago! – Osaka Gardens 2







We also went to a quirky neighborhood and explored the Graceland Cemetery. You definitely should go The Boring Store when you are in Chicago - very awesome and I loved it. I'm sure other cachers would, too.

First cache actually in Chicago

Given how much I've been to Chicago in the last year, I'm amazed it took me this long. But many things distracted me before, and today Evan and I were just exploring and enjoying the city. We went to a museum and then walked through a nearby park before meeting up for dinner. While in the park, Evan said he had something I just had to see, so we went to it. In Millennium Park, we walked right up to the Cloud Gate and started taking pictures. And then I thought...I wonder if there is a cache at this really cool place. And, there was a virtual cache, so we started taking more pictures. This is my favorite.

Caching in Michigan and Indiana

We woke up too early for a Saturday on vacation, so we decided to make use of the extra time to find caches in two nearby states. We drove to Michigan and then stopped in Indiana on the way back. In Michigan, we went to New Buffalo, a neat little town that would actually make a peaceful vacation all on its own.



The first cache was near a local shopping establishment (which we strongly considered shopping in but decided against since we were driving) - Toddy Stop. We decided here that we really dug this town, so we decided to lookup some information at 411.

If you haven't figured it out by now, no caching trip is really complete for me without visiting a cemetery. And New Buffalo has a really nice, well maintained with. With the nice weather, breeze, and sun, I liked exploring the Pine Grove cemetery here. They also had two caches, which we were able to find without issue.



We decided to do a little gift shopping here (very neat toy store), and when we were leaving, Evan spotted something we had to get a closer look at.



After exploring a little more, we decided to start heading back to Chicago and made a few stops in Indiana.



We stopped in two cemeteries and found one cache (for the other, we looked in that tree for like 30 minutes before getting tired of sticking our hands into holes :-)

Caching north of Chicago

Today, we just decided to go for a drive and explore the area to get familiar with things. We headed north a little and stopped off for a few caches on the way back. Funny enough, both were near coffee shops. Which I just figured out when writing this...and Angela, although home in Texas, was giving us pointers by text the whole time.

Anyways, while getting dinner, I looked up nearby caches and found one that intrigued me because of its name. So we headed over to C₈H₁₀N₄O₂ and grabbed a quick find. But I do really love the name of this one. We caught a pretty sunset on the way back south.



Continuing south, we stopped for another cache after getting gas, and I really wish this one had been open when we arrived. A very nice area with bells ringing, flowers, a park across the street. And the cache was a little tricky (more to get without stepping on things I shouldn't than to find), so that added to the fun of this one. Loved It's really that good.



Our final stop of the night had nothing to do with caching, but a little carnival on the side of the road. Evan knows I love rides, so he went on the Ferris wheel with me, and watched me ride the spinny swing ride. I've always wanted to randomly go to one of these, so I'm glad we stopped.

Hot day of DNFs

We wanted to get out and about again, and were very happy when Jared and Gabby wanted to come, too. What we weren't counting on was how hot it would be out. Combined with the humidity, it made the time spent caching much shorter than normal.

We started out with one that I really thought should have been fairly easy (McInnish Windmill), but we looked a while with no luck. We did, however, get covered in little burrs and stickers. This included the dog, who I was still finding them on later in the evening. She loved the wide open space to play it, at least.

Our next cache turned out to be another DNF (Pile of Rocks). It was just too hot in this location to search long, and there wasn't really an easy way to keep the dog, so we spent maybe 10 minutes there before taking a walk to another nearby cache.

We did finally find a cache (Bridge Over Nutria Waters). A lot of up and down on the bridge; I was the first daring enough to go under it (it really wasn't bad). A sneaky little bugger and that is all I'll say to keep the mystery for others who search. Let's just say we were relieved to finally get this one.

So, next time we will either do boring and easy caches if it is 100 out, wait until the evening, or perhaps our Labor Day trip will be someone up north with cooler weather...

Goal Progress

Just over halfway through the year, so checking in on goal progress. I don't think that I find this report at all favorable...but I'll leave that for others to decide I suppose.

Finding 150 caches...I'm only at 17%. This doesn't really surprise me with all that's happened this year, but I had even decreased the number and I'm still having problems reaching it. Guess I'll have to try that 31 days of caching in August that the geocaching.com folks are promoting and see if that helps any.

Find caches in 1 country...still at 0% and likely to stay that way this year. I don't see any international travel in the year, although I may figure out a way. Next year will see a lot of places, though.

Find caches in 5 states...at 80%. This one should be easy enough to make happen. I should go to Vegas in October, but even if not, I'll find a way to do something over Labor Day weekend.

Get to top 1500 geocachers in TX...actually went down the list to 1819. Kind of a bummer here, but seeing how I'm not really finding caches, also not really a shock.

So...I really need to start caching or no way will this happen by the end of the year.

Caching with Burrowfamily at Family Reunion

I needed to check on a nearby cache and the kids needed a walk, so we took a quick walk to the two caches closest to my house. With four adults, four kids, and a dog, I'm sure we were a sight. Good thing is that it was a very empty day, with everyone out celebrating the 4th. We opted for geocaching :-)

Waiting to Fly Home

Quite tired by now, we decided to really chill before heading home. Well, home for Evan and work trip for me. But away from vacation in a great place, nonetheless.

Found a couple of PNGs, the one listed is really memorable for me because it was covered in ants. MTSB – 50-year-old Mansion?

Caching in Downtown Ashville, NC

After driving around a bit the previous days and exploring, we decided to stay nearby and shop and visit Biltmore (awesome, BTW). While walking downtown, we found a couple of caches.



I took the above picture near one of the caches: Paley’s Passion

We also walked by some shops and this one appears to be near a cache-loving store: Natural Selection For the Birds. There were some muggles here, but not too bad.

Meeting Friends for Dinner

Evan has some friends near Ashville, so while we were there, we met them for dinner and drinks. While waiting for dinner, since we are cursed with being early birds, we found some caches near the restaurant we were meeting at. All were park and grabs, so pretty easy. But I like the one below cause of the name.

As High As Geoffrey’s Neck

Prior in the day, we had driven along the Blue Ridge Parkway - very pretty - and gone to the highest point east of the Mississippi River. Nice view.

Three States: South Carolina, North Caroline, and Tennesse

Evan and I headed out of town for our 10th wedding anniversary and decided to make this one in a peaceful location...that just so happened to be close enough to other states to help meet some caching goals.

We started our first morning in Ashville, NC by driving south to South Carolina. Not far into the state, we honed in on the cache Highway 11 Lodge Tree, which was in a very pretty location. We found this one fairly quickly and headed back into North Carolina.



After finding the cache in South Carolina, we headed back to Ashville and parked downtown for some shopping. While downtown, we stopped for a break on a bench and I decided to see if there was a cache nearby...and there was one "within 10 feet", so basically where we were...a quick grab before heading to dinner.

Tops for Caches

After dinner, we weren't quite tired yet, so headed north to Tennessee.







Once at the cache, we had no coverage, so we searched for a bit before heading back to where we had coverage, reopening the map, and then heading back to locate the cache. Had I really just stepped 10 feet further than I had in my original search we would have found it much more quickly. However, the search was well worth it, as it was quite dark when we were done and we got to enjoy seeing the lightning bugs up and down the hills. Very nice end to the day.

Lookout!

Introducing Jared and Gabby to Geocaching

If you know us, you know that we love sharing the things we love with our friends and family. So, when Jared expressed interest in geocaching, we were all about showing him. And it was a fun afternoon where we of course lost track of time and got plenty of sun and the dog got plenty of a walk in.

We met at my house and headed to a nearby park that I've found a lot of caches in before, but headed in a different direction for some new finds. The very first was a 5/5, and nice to have others in the group who didn't mind being a tree monkey. We actually found it quite quickly, so that was a relief: NYEDWINT: Tribute to... BEVIKING (Bonus Cache)

We found another easy cache (once we got in from the right side...) and then kept on walking. We got to one I thought would be easy, but it looked like someone had thrown a party there recently and messed things up. But, we found a ducky eraser on the ground, so knew we couldn't be too far off. With some persistance, we found the cache: First Contact

Killing Time Again with Fred and Evan

Just out and about with Fred and Evan for the afternoon and decided to find a few caches. The one below was interesting because there were two caches hidden...one with a choose your own adventure that looks vaguely familiar...

NTB Cache

Just Killing Time

Poking around near home and wanted to get out and cache. Found a couple near home I hadn't searched for yet, so headed to them. Like the story with this one:

More! More! Leap Year 2012

Visiting In-laws

This year has been crazy, so I'm a little behind in blog posts for the caching I've done this year. Starting with late February, life just got really busy!

In March, I was visiting my in-laws the weekend after my grandma passed away. This trip was mainly to help with things at their house, but also to take Justin out for his birthday. In addition, Evan and I took him geocaching one evening, were we found 6 caches after dark all fairly close to their house. My two favorites from this trip out were:

Caleb’s Favorite Mystery Cache
End of the Earth

Caching while visiting grandma

This past week has been highly emotional for my family. Last Friday, we were informed that my grandma was in the hospital from a fall in the nursing home and I drove to the hospital with my mom and dad from Dallas to west of Houston. I spent a couple of days there with the family, then drove home with my parents on Sunday and went to work Monday. During dinner Monday, my dad called that my grandma had passed away and I called my siblings and a cousin to let them know. We are preparing for her funeral, which will take place Friday in Eagle Lake.

While she was in the hospital, to get a few minutes of peace, I stepped outside into the hospital parking lot and grabbed the cache located there - Twilight - Just here for the Blood!.

So, a co-worker was looking for a hobby in Waco

Today, I went to a lunch with a couple of co-workers since once of those co-workers will start working remotely in Waco next week and we won't see him so much. We were talking about things to do in Waco, and hubby and I thought this would be a good time to introduce him to geocaching. I opened the app on my phone, and sure enough, there is a cache less than 300 feet away, so we decide to walk there after we finish eating. What a pleasant surprise, and now I think he may be hooked. We'll see the next time I go to Waco.

2012 goal recap and new goals for 2013

Recapping 2012

Find 500 caches total:

100 %

Find 300 caches:

69 %

Find caches in 2 countries:

150 %

Find caches in 5 states:

140 %

Finds for each day of the year:

28 %

Goals for 2013

• Find 150 caches
• Get finds for each day of the year to 67% (currently at 28%)
• Find caches in 1 country
• Find caches in 5 states
• Get in the top 1500 TX geocachers (currently at 1774)