Mackinac Island Geocaching

We had planned a trip to Mackinac Island with Rachel and Andrew long before I started chemo for breast cancer, and we decided to go ahead with the trip anyway. It was definitely a different kind of vacation for me than it would have been normally, but I'm glad we went.

There was plenty of relaxing. We spent time sitting on the grass snacking and watching the sun, worked on a puzzle in the resort lobby, wandered around the island, and just enjoyed being together. Rachel and Andrew were awesome about letting things be whatever they needed to be.

We also did some geocaching while we were there. RAS - S.I.T. was along the perimeter road, which follows the shoreline around the island. We also grabbed St. Ignace Boat Launch 2025 before leaving the area. Bird Watching on Market Street was a busy and sneaky cache we had to wait out others for.

The hardest part of the trip for me was definitely the bike ride around the island. The 8.2-mile perimeter sounds pretty reasonable until you're doing it while your body is dealing with chemo. That was a lot more physically demanding than I expected.

One thing I absolutely loved was getting to forge my own knife. That was probably my favorite activity of the trip, and I came home with a knife I actually made.

I also started losing my hair while we were there, which was one of those very real reminders of what was happening even while we were trying to enjoy the trip.

Overall, Mackinac Island was a strange combination of relaxing and physically demanding. Some things were harder than they should have been, but there was also a lot of good in the trip. Time with friends, snacks on the grass, puzzles in the lobby, a little geocaching, and a knife I forged myself. I'm glad we went.

Geocaching in Japan

We went to Japan in March 2024, and one of the fun parts of the trip was getting to meet up with our friend Rachel. We arrived in Tokyo a little before she did, which gave us some time to explore on our own.

And, of course, we went geocaching.

We found GCA8Z37 while we were wandering around Tokyo, and this one was SO FUN. We love finding caches that make you stop and look at your surroundings a little differently, and this was definitely one of those.

After we made the find, Rachel arrived and the Japan adventure really got started. We had a ridiculously packed trip planned, including Tokyo, Hakone, a ryokan, a Tokyo Drift car ride, shrines, lots of food, and plenty of other adventures.

But before all of that, we had a little solo time in Tokyo and a geocache to find. Not a bad way to start a trip to Japan!

Geocaching in Argentina

We had a few different stops in Argentina, with Buenos Aires as our final destination. We found geocaches at two of these ports. For the first geocache, we had a driver take us to the stunning location so we could make the find. Totally worth it - stunning views from here and a fun search: Galese.

At another port, we decided to explore another cache (Caminito - República de La Boca). This street was super fun to explore! And on Leap Day!

Geocaching in Uruguay

Montevideo was a fun stop, and we had some of the best food on the trip here. Definitely try steak when in the area!

We had been exploring the city a while when we decided to go look for this geocache. Unfortunately, we forgot a pen. But, fortunately, we were able to get one as a souvineer to sign this log: Canteras del Parque Rodo.

Caching in Chile

A trip a year in the works finaly coming to fruition! We headed off to South America with our friends, and OF COURSE we did some geocaching along the way. We spent a few days in the area surrounding Santiago, then our first stops were all in Chile.

The first cache we found on the trip was a bit tricky, but fun: Vicente Perez Rosales. I also got the chance to put my feet in some water, so I took it.

A few days later, we had a port further south and found two additional caches: Furthest Southern Cache and Monumento al Ovejero - Monument to the shepherd. We visited a museum and did a lot of stair climbing.

Caching in Cuba

Yes, Cuba. Well, that was a rather quickly planned and interesting experience. Met a lot of nice people, saw a lot of old cars, and had a good time. We also found a place that was closed, had a guard stationed, and had a cache that was one of the scariest places I've looked in a while. In any case, glad we looked then cause I doubt we will get a chance to return.

Cuba Libre

Travelling to the UK on my birthday

I had a work trip to do a presentation at the office in the UK, and while I was there I got to meet up with the person I found my first cache ever with. She, her husband, and I walked all around in the freezing cold so they could show me the area and we could grab a few caches before getting dessert and coffee. I got a lot of history about the area and three caches in all. Sadly, all are now inactive (but well after I and many others found them).

• SCC8 - Cathederally
• Sheffield's Central Park
• SCC7 - Leo's Bedroom

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 :-)