Cachin' with the Cousins.

Today we went cachin' with the cousins.  Our crew consisted, in total:  Simon, Vanessa, Selah, Celeste, Micah and Ethan and for the first time, Riley.

The first unsuccessful cache was a strange one, titled, "ICA #11".  This one proved VERY frustrating in that the map cache was labeled with one coordinate, but then in the description showed a completely different coordinate, quite far from where the map said it was.  Not cool, man.  Not fun for the kids!

The second one was a success, and was titled, "Double Arches", found at the end of a cul-de-sac near McDonalds, hence the name.

The kids were happy to find the little treasures inside.

The 3rd one, I don't completely consider a failure, since it was destined not to be a success, and was titled, "P.A.G.S. - Watching The Ducks!".  It was a 3-star difficulty, near Ambrose pond, and so we had no business looking for it anyway to be honest.

We quickly jumped back into the van and went straight to the 2nd successful find, "Coleman Cache", just around the corner from Ambrose pond.  This was a recently added cache from 2015, and there were many trinkets the kids got to trade.

(Riley was not a fan of the bugs, but they were DEFINITELY a fan of hers!)

The final somewhat-unsuccessful attempt went to, "P.A.G.S. Don't Bump It Revisited".  The acronym for P.A.G.S. must stand for "Pretty Absent Geocaches, Suckers!"  We located a decoy...  what is that garbage?  But the last few logs showed that no one was able to find the actual cache, just the decoy.

So lessons learned?  Do MORE research into the caches before going.  For me, I must make sure to look closely at the difficulty level and make sure they are, in fact, "kid-friendly".

Batting A Thousand

Friday, August 28th, 2015

Today, our geocaching bike trip took us to Ada Bike Trails, where we set out to find 4 caches.  But first, a pit stop for some H20 replenishment.

The first cache was in a Subway parking lot behind Forest Hills Foods on the way to Ada bike trail, called "B Stealthy".  It did a good job of living up to it's name in that was quite stealthy indeed.

It was cleverly disguised as an electrical outlet-type cover.

The next one was "Syd is Five".  The first of the 3 that were actually on the Ada Bike trail.  Simon found this one in the tree at about eye level.

The 3rd one took us the longest, and was titled,  "Two Grey and Beyond".  We were seconds away from giving up, when suddenly I hear Simon shout, "I found it!"

The final cache was titled,  +Bike Path cul-de-sac", and once again, Simon's Eagle vision spotted it first.

A successful trip this time out!

The CascAda Bike Trail Hits & Misses

Thursday, July 2 2015

The first part of our geocaching adventure started out with 2 mosquito-ridden and filled with overgrowth caches.

CascAda History #13 was a difficult one to find... and we couldn't find it!  The pricker bushes and mosquitoes made it very difficult for us (wearing shorts) to find.  Our future goal for this one and CascAda History #12 is to re-visit them in LATE fall when there are no mosquitoes and no more foliage to contend with, hopefully making it easier to find.  You have not bested us yet!!

We then decided to just continue downhill to the end of Burton, then up the hill to Burton Park.

CascAda History #1 we found rather quickly in a pine tree - a hanging "bison" w/camo.

Around the corner was another one we just could not find, For Issy.  We spent a long time in brambles and sticks and again, mosquitoes with no results... we were feeling a bit defeated, and decided to head back on Burton.

Then our luck changed for the better.... (click to enlarge)

CascAda History #5 was the first 'easy' one in the shape of a rock.

Then we went on to find the next 3, CascAda History #6.... in a film tube...

....and CascAda History #7, which was hiding INSIDE a fence post!  Very clever.

...and CascAda History #9, 

but then we spent a frustrating amount of time trying to find CascAda History #8 which was supposed to be hiding in 3 pine trees behind a sign... but with no luck.

We were able to locate one more, CascAda History #10 ....

...before skipping past CascAda History #11 all together due to being once again in too much foliage.

Grand Totals for the Day:  

6 Found

CascAda History #1

CascAda History #5 

CascAda History #6

CascAda History #7

CascAda History #9

CascAda History #10

5 Caches not found

CascAda History #13

CascAda History #12 

For Issy

CascAda History #8

CascAda History #11

The Three Bike Riding Caches

T'was a perfect day for a geocaching bike ride!  Here was the general route we took.

Stop #1 was in the parking lot of Centerpointe Mall, titled, "My First Cache".

The GPS wasn't working all that great, so we went to numerous parking lot lamps before we found it.

Stop #2 was called, "Rock Out", and was in the Parking Lot just outside the music building at Calvin College.  Vanessa found a gigantic mushroom and had to include it in the pic.  There was some trading of toys from the kids.

The final Stop #3 was "The Secret Trail".  This one took a bit of time to find, but eventually we uncovered it!  After that, it was just a matter of returning home.  On the way back, we found some convenient bike trails and sidewalks through Calvin College to get back to Burton.

One in Ada Park

Simon and Vanessa scaling a tree during a friend's b-day party

While Simon, Vanessa and I were visiting Ada Park (for one of Vanessa's Gymco friends' Birthdays) on Saturday, April 18th of the year 2015, we decided to look for a cache titled, "Liam's 3rd Birthday Cache".

Cache Found!

We were able to find it within about 10 - 15 minutes of searching.... and Simon also tried to bring back with us many tiny burrs and thistles.  It was a perfect sunny day for the adventure, and it was also nice to begin the spring with a successful search.

Simon and I are making some plans as to where we might want to plant our first geocache.  More on this in the upcoming posts!