Tuesday 30 August 2011

Restin In....


A quick find tonight. One of my favourite type of caches are the Resting In types. I love to visit old graveyards, they have so much character and history.
Tonight we visited:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=bf45f3a8-8465-418f-85ae-4d4f0e151c50#
Even though there was lots of construction going on, we were still able to make the find.
Another one down!

Monday 29 August 2011

The Caching continues.......

Oh where have the days gone? I can't believe it was last Wednesday the last time I blogged! I have been keeping up with the cache a day (and then some). I just ran out of time to blog about it.
Thursday was the last softball game of the season, so I picked up a quick cache with the kids on route to the ball game. The game was very close, unfortunately the girls did not win. :(   Now we must wait for two weeks for the season ending day of Champs.
On Friday, we headed out to the cottage. Along the way we picked up 4 caches and waited for a few friends to arrive. We spent the evening eating, drinking and playing games.
On Saturday we got up and decided to head out and do some caching, We went to the Warsaw Caves. A very nice place, but we were not prepared to cache there. We knew they were Earth Caches, but did not take the time to read the dull description. When we got there, and read what was required, we were disappointed to find out that we needed to have a tape measure and a thermometre to read outside temperatures. :(  However, all was not lost on the day. In total our friends got 10 caches and I got six (we took them to some we had done already).
But our best day was Sunday. We had planned ahead and brought our bikes with us. So on the way home we stopped at a trail in Uxbridge and biked just a portion of the trail and logged 22 caches on the trail in about 2 hours! It was an amazing day. Perfect for biking. The sun was not out, but it was still warm and there was a nice breeze to keep us cool. After finishing the trail, we decided that we still had some go in us and we did 6 more caches on the drive home. Our best day ever with 28!!
Then there was tonight...our friends (the same ones we spent the weekend with) were stranded on the Go Train at Bloor station. So they took the subway up to Kipling and we rescued them from the station. There was a cache there but it was on the Go Train side and we were on the TTC side. So we went for dinner, as it was almost 7pm. We ate at one of my favourite places, Montanta's (they have the best Nachos!!) After dinner it was already dark and we still had to return to Georgetown to take our friends to their cars, plus get a cache. So we found one not too far from the Go station in Georgetown and we all went to get it. We didn't know the area very well, and we bushwhacked in the dark for about 30 metres towards GZ. When we arrived, we realized there was a more direct route from a different direction. The cache was an easy find, B sat down on the wet grass to sign the log book while E and I held flashlights. We took the easy path out and returned to our cars.
The streak is still alive!!

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Still Caching.....

I know it's been a few days since I blogged about my finds.Life just seems to be taking up so much time. I have been able to keep the streak going.
On Monday, several new caches came out and one was at a baseball park that our family is very familiar with. So I decided to stop and get this one with CelyG as we were heading out to a softball game for her anyway and it seemed appropriate. There were lots of muggles around but they were all playing there game and really didn't pay attention to what we were doing.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=39f5e984-fe4a-47c7-9ce5-b9241f8dfb03#

Tuesday was also a busy day. Several new caches were published, one very close to our house. Of course it was published in the middle of the day. However, Mark was home with the kids, so out he went with CelyG and they were able to log the FTF while I was still sitting in my office downtown. He also took the kids for a bike ride in Mississauga and they picked up a new cache that was published. This time no FTF though. Then he had to meet a fellow cacher to drop of a lost geocoin, so they were able to log three caches without me. :(
So none of these counted as my cache. One last errand to Milton before another softball for CelyG, so I picked up an easy cache from a local park. Our 300th find!!
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=839bea95-434f-4046-a988-bd17669264ad#

That brings us to todays adventure. A friend had invited me to watch Shakespeare in the Garden in downtown Brampton, Romeo and Juliet. Sounded like fun. It was to start at seven, so I thought I'd go a little early and pick up the cache that's at Gage Park. It's been there a while but we have not had time to visit the park and get this one. So I arrived just before six and entered the park. Weather was still beautiful and a bingo game was going in the centre. Kids were splashing in the wading pool area and I was able to make a quick find.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=11075db2-6fd6-4f18-b319-ddd3824486ee#

So  I went back to the Garden Square to await my friends and the start of the play.
By now it's 6:40pm and no one is in the square. Not even the actors for the play. Very weird. Then we remembered that a tornado warning had been issued, maybe the play was cancelled? A quick call to the Rose Theatre to find out that yes it was indeed cancelled. :(
So instead the three of us went for a few drinks at a local pub, had some good conversation. Left the pub just before the big storm hit. Right now it is pouring rain and lots of thunder and lightening!
I should probably get off the computer before the power goes out.
G'Night!

Sunday 21 August 2011

Blogging is a tough job....

I thought going out and getting a cache a day was tough, but having to also log in and write about it is almost as tough. Kudos to my friend Elaine who has her own blog about biking and quilting (among other things). I'm not sure I can keep things interesting for the next 300 plus days, but I am going to try.

So on Saturday I was in Mississauga yet again. We were having Mason's birthday party at Classic Bowl. I had MiniGomes and CelyG with me and we went looking for one behind a plaza on Dundas street. We started walking down a path and thought we were approaching the cache, however we ended up on the wrong side of the creek. We tried to find another path that led to the other side, however we could not find it quick enough as time was running out to be at the party.
We bowled for several hours and then went to our friends house so the kids could hang out. The kids played video games and the adults chit chatted about everything. Before I knew it, it was already 6:30 and it was getting dark outside. I quickly used the iPhone and found an easy cache about 1km away. It was right near the Hershey Centre. Thanks goodness it's not hockey season. There was not another soul in site, and was able to make the grab quite easily.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=aad551d1-ea00-416f-8470-638336e7ac2b#

Today I decided to go for a new TB hotel that came up yesterday. It was located near Milton, and I was happy to see this one pop up. A big container is nice to be able drop off the bigger travel bugs.
We went there just after lunch and there were a lot of muggles, however they were all inside the Tim's enjoying their coffee's. I don't think anyone noticed us sneak down and get the cache. Both MiniGomes and I grabbed travel bugs to keep moving.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=09b311b8-fad8-43ea-96c3-eef940872830#

And since I am on the topic of travel bugs, I have a sad story but a happy ending. Do you ever hate it when your travel bugs go missing? Or when you get to a cache hoping to find a TB, but nothing is there? I always wondered if people took them on purpose and just pocketed them? Well , while I was my friends house I was happily explaining Geocaching to him, and showing him all the items that we had in our Swag bag, when I came across a geocoin that I didn't realize we still had. I went and looked it up on the website so I could log it and I was stunned that the owner had reported it stolen. I felt AWFUL! He has just recently replaced the coin with a photo and it was now travelling about. I contacted him through the caching site and we are arranging to return it to them this week. We had no intent on keeping it, but it got "lost" at the bottom of our bag. So there is hope for all those so called lost or stolen TB out there.

Later......

Friday 19 August 2011

Mississauga bound...again...

Today I had to return to Mississauga to pick up the kids and bring them home from visiting their extended family. So on the way home we decided to stop for the following cache:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=3f56b0f6-0a39-4c0d-be5f-c0762d3d07a6#

It was such a beautiful evening and we saw some local wildlife. We decided to park in one of the office parking lots almost directly across from GZ. We had to laugh, as soon as we pulled in we saw a wild turkey! All by itself just wandering around. We tried to snap a few photos with the iPhone, but I think we scared it too much. So off to the cache. We crossed the street and we soon found the path that led to GZ.  And right as MiniGomes entered the brush, a little bunny scurried away. He was moving so fast, all I saw was his little white cotton tail. It's not too often that you see a turkey and a bunny all in one night!



Thursday 18 August 2011

Happy Birthday Mason!!

Today is my son Mason's birthday and he is finally returning home to Brampton after 4 weeks of roaming the countryside between his two sets of grandparents. He's still spending the night with his cousins in Mississauga, so I stopped by their house to wish him a happy birthday and give him his present.

Afterwards, I decided I might as well get my daily cache in Mississauga and there was one not too far away on Mississauga Road. A quick grab.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=b4f63193-c0a6-49ee-b2ba-570f8bcdfc56#

Have a great night!

Wednesday 17 August 2011

Another quick grab.

Today I had to make a stop at the grocery store or my poor cat was going to starve to death. So I decided to get the puzzle cache located nearby that I had solved a little while ago, but was not able to pick up because of the muggle factor.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=c9e20cc8-cae0-4fc8-8c79-d2cc23313a7d#

Even though it was prime shopping time, I was able to get the closest parking spot available, quickly sign the log and get into the store and get the shopping done.
Another day done.....

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Yesterday I was lazy and then ran out of time to update the blog, but I did get my cache. I had to travel to Guelph for a client visit and I visited a Park and Go just off the 401 and picked up the following cache:  http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=8b077d2c-cb01-49dd-8577-07664095e4fc#

Today I picked one up closer to home. I cannot believe the weather, it is so hot and humid out there. This one was just a few streets over.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=acfa7e6a-d6f4-4136-bda5-94046c2d9be6#

No exiting adventures on these two, but they kept the streak going.

Sunday 14 August 2011

End of Week One...

Yesterday we spent a lot of time in the car travelling to my cousins wedding up in Hepworth. It's a little more then two hours each way, and we decided to pick up a cache close to the wedding location. There was an easy cache located at a nearby community centre. There was a little park with a few muggles playing, but the cahce was located about 100 metres away and they were none the wiser.

Today we decided for a little tour...and we travelled to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. Well not to the actual places, but to the America's geocaches on the Caledon trail.

Needless to say, we did not arrive home until after midnight and we were a little slow to get ourselves out of bed this morning. After lunch we talked about going for a walk on the Caledon trail, and then decided to take our bikes. Now my bike has not been out of the garage all summer (it's just been to hot and many other excuses), but it seemed like a good idea. After filling up the tires with air, we set off to the Caledon trail, we choose the starting point off Mississauga road because we knew there was lots of parking there. We get the bikes out and head down the trail. We decided that we'd bike as far as my body could handle and then cache on the way back.
We stopped at Creditview Road for a water break. It felt good to get out and ride the bike. (Thank goodness once you learn you never forgot how.) Just as we were deciding if we were going to go further down the trail we hear thunder in the distance. We decided to start back and try to pick up some of the caches in this section.  The first one we stopped for we didn't find. We looked, but didn't spend a lot of time as we needed to keep moving due to the weather. So off to the next one. This one was Jamaica and Mark was able to find this one quickly but was attacked by a few mosquito's. The next one was 500 metres down the trail so off we went.  Mark again went for this one and it was a quick grab just off the trail, Grenada. By this time the thunder was getting louder and several people also on bikes were also heading back to the parking point.  Check the iPhone and there is another one just 150 metres ahead, so we headed off to the Dominican Republic. This time I went into the bush, only a few metres off the road but on an uphill slope, but a quick easy find.
By this time the sky was really dark and we decided not to push our luck and to try to get back to the car before the rain started. We made it back to the starting point and got the bikes in the car, and that's when the first few droplets of rain hit the windshield!
Biking on the trail was beautiful and we are planning on heading back out later this week, as long as the weather will co-operate. These trails are awesome.

Elaine - maybe when you return from your trip we can go for a ride? That is, if you can stand to go as slow as I do!!

Well only 51 more weeks to go!

Friday 12 August 2011

Did I miss a Day??????

The short answer is no.

Yesterday was a busy day after work. Although I did attempt to try a cache in the downtown core with one of my work colleagues but that turned into a bust because of the Blue Jays game. We did try to look but could not do the search justice and did have to back to work after or "lunch" break.

So instead, I did a night cache after CelyG's softball game. I was going to skip the game and go look for a cache but decided I would have lots of time after the game. Glad a didn't miss the game it was sooo intense. The girls won the game, Celeste hit a double!! The ball actually touched the outfield grass! And she stood her ground at home plate as a catcher and knocked over  a girl trying to steal home. The team was on fire last night, and they are 2-0 for the playoffs. Awesome.

However, the game did not end until 10pm and then we had to take Celeste to her cousins in Georgetown. Oops I forgot to factor that in. That's okay, lots of cache's in GT. I'm sure I can get a quick grab. WE tried one near the Walmart plaza, from the description it looked to be easy enough, we even has our BFL with us. This one was not meant to be. GZ was very dense and because of the darkness we had trouble looking. And to top it off several muggles were out for late night walks with their dogs.

Off to plan B, we dropped of CelyG at her cousins and then proceeded to the Virtual cache located in the downtown area. This is a beautiful little park. I will definitely have to re-visit in the daylight.
Thank goodness for the BFL, as I need to read the plaques to answer to questions. Still I was able to answer them all and log the cache from my iPhone at 11:30pm! Probably cutting it a little close.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=dc3c3d02-751b-4b73-8112-08a8ff8062e0#

So today I decide to get the cache out of the way in the afternoon as I plan on going to the movies tonight and didn't want to rush 2 nights in a row.
I was out to Erin (again!) to pick up some quilting supplies from the local store and decided to stop for ice cream at this little place in Belfountain. And wouldn't you know it, there is a cache here less the 100 metres from the store. So I sat and enjoyed my ice cream and then looked for the cache. It had me stumped for a few moments but then I read the clue and was able to make the find.
This is a fun one to bring the family to and stop for ice cream cone, if you can find parking!
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=b4023c62-d64d-4266-a107-2cf8ba1926fa#

So I'm done for the day!!

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Quick and Easy...

Today we made a quick stop at a park and ride near Georgetown. A quick easy find. Nothing complicated today.
Here's the link if you are interested.....
http://coord.info/GCPD8T

Tuesday 9 August 2011

Rain Rain Go Away....

I was sitting at my desk in downtown Toronto at lunchtime and the rain was coming down hard. I thought crap, I'm going to have to go out caching in this when I get home tonight.
Thankfully, the weather God smiled on me and by the time I got off my train at 5:15, the sun was shining and everything in Brampton looked dry.
Tonight was a busy night. An unexpected errand had to be completed and tonight was the first game of softball playoffs. Plus, we also had to feed our friends cat while they were away on vacation. And of course I need to sneak in the cache.
After a quick change out of the work clothes, of to Erin for or errand (say that five times fast!!). It turns out that there is a nice easy cache in downtown Erin and I decided to make that they cache of the day, while Mark got some gas for the car.
Here's the link to the cache.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6bb8d601-5ebf-4b74-a561-d9fd257887c0#

With the find out of the way, it was off to complete the rest of the evenings tasks.
And to make the night complete CelyG's team won their softball game!
Life is good!

Monday 8 August 2011

Day Two...Two Caches....


Warning Spoiler Picture below.......

Decided to look for today's cache after my physio appointment. There were two caches in the park across the street. However, decided only to get one of them. A nice little walk down a path on the Etobicoke Creek. I was glad Mark came with me today as he had to reach into the tree to get the cache. A very cool place though.


The second cache was an after dinner impulse. A quick drive up and grab. Well almost. I had to wait out a muggle that was staring straight at us, as he let his wife load groceries into his car.

Two days down, only 364 more to go!!



Sunday 7 August 2011

Happy Birthday!!!!! Day One!

Here goes day one. Woke up this morning to rain! :(
However, I had spent the evening working on a few puzzle caches and wanted to try them out. So CelyG and I set out this morning in the rain. We got to GZ, however it was a high muggle area and decided that we would pass on this one and come back another time.
Off to the second cache. We arrived at the co-ord's and proceeded to solve the puzzle. Unfortunately, by this point the rain was coming down fairly hard. We sat in the bus shelter and tried to solve the puzzle. We put the co-ord's in the puzzle checker but to no avail, it said they were wrong. We had a pretty good idea where the second location was, but didn't want to search the wrong spot in the rain. So we decided to double check our answers and contact the CO.
Since it was raining we went home and watched a movie, while we waited to see if the CO would respond. Fortunately just before the movie ended the CO responded and I re-did the math. Still the geo-checker did not give a thumbs up. I was confused. What could be wrong. So I checked the co-ords again, got the same answer. By this point I was scratching my head, what is going on? So I did the math again. Finally!! Seems somewhere along the way, I forgot my Grade 1 math of carrying the one!!
So CelyG and I got back in the car and off we went. The cache was in the place that we had speculated this morning, however, having the co-ord's made finding the cache quick. Hope the next 365 are just as adventurous!! That's right because next year is a leap year, I will get to complete 366 days of caching.

Thanks to spyddercat and wizard of oz 11 for this cache!