Garden Oasis

It took 2 trys to get this one done, only cause the first stage was a bit
rusted. We rubbed and spit and scraped it but still couldn't get the right coords.
So I emailed the owners of it and asked for a hint. They said they were going
to change that stage the next day.
I have to say their caches are the best to do! We have done now quite a few of theirs now and their always happy to help if someone gets stuck. Thank god cause I have had to email them a few times now..lol

We took Tracy and Seans mom on this adventure with us. She was pretty excited
to get started! This is a 5 Stage Cache..

Walking Through the Tall Pines

This cache was our 3rd and final of the day. It's a daycare so we waited for the weekend to do this one. Good thing cause we can't refuse playground equipment, so we would have looked pretty silly playing on the stuff while the kids noses were plastered to the window looking at the silly grownups.. LOL

As you know again I can't do anything easy. They said to approach the North end
of the tree line. Ooooo, NO we can't make it that easy...sheesh. We parted trees and bushwacked a few thorns and then guess what we came upon a trail..lol. Who would have guessed..
Of course the girls gave me that look again. I think that phrase that 'if looks could kill' fits in here pretty well.. (smiles to self)

The area the cache was in was pretty cool. I know, I know how cool can so many woods be after awhile..lol. Well it just all depends if you like nature or not. I always notice weird things or just the way the trees are. The tree this was hidden in was pretty big and dark. Guess ya had to be there..LOL



HEY IS THAT A TRAIL?? lol



THEY ARE SUCH GOOD LOOKERS! Of course they are competeing to see who finds
it first, but we won't tell anyone that.



FOUND IT...

Dewlou's Stash 4

This cache was the first time we got to see other fellow cachers!!
As I was pulling up to park, the were leaving the cache area. I waved
to them as they passed by. I looked at who it was in the log book.
Team Twizz..HI GUYS!! :)

Of course I think everyone is a cacher now as we go down park trails or something..lol
But its the gps that sorta gives it away.

This cache was just a micro, but non the less cool to do.

Fort Cache

This cache felt sorta weird cause we had to go into someones back yard.

But I was hopeing to see the hiders of the cache, but to no avail.

We took one of my daughters friends with us today. She had been listening

to us talk about it and wanted to go. She was pretty good at it for her first time..

The cache was chucked full of goodies!

Key Note Address

When we pulled into the area of this cache, I was like oh no, this can't be good.
We tried a cache in this area before and had no luck. It's the trees that make it hard to follow the gps. But we were determined this time to do this one, cause we couldn't find another one earlier today in a different area.
Usually we don't mind if we can't find it, we just go back and ask for a hint.
But we brought Tracys mom with us today to show what we've been doing. So we were excited to show her hows its done. I picked a 5 stage one that I thought would be pretty interesting to her and a bit tricky. But the first stage to that one was hard to read so we guess-ta-mated and I think we were wrong. After 2 hours of trying we gave up. She was wore out with all the walking with that one. So I said come on lets do this one stage cache so you know what its like. But like I said when we pulled up I was like oh great. If I would have known how this one was like after getting into it I wouldn't have dragged her into this one either. She isn't a spring chicken.
This cache was by far the worse climbing one we have done so far. The hills to get to it were outstanding and then the actual location of the cache looked like a damn drop off. I said ummm, I'm not going down there and either is mom.
So Tracy took off and found it.. So we baby stepped our way down the slope and braced ourselves against stumps so we wouldn't keep going.
Even after all that, mom was excited and got a duck pin out of it..LOL
Tracy just looked at me like how the hell could you put my mother through all this... Hell I put myself through it to..lol



OF COURSE THERE'S NO PICTURES OF ME CAUSE I'M ALWAYS BEHIND THE CAMERA!! :)

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

This cache is a micro and was told it was a old machine that has
been a fixture on the NW side of Grand Rapids for awhile.
For the life of me I couldn't figure out what that could be off the top
of my head. But once there I was like oh ya! duh..
You just see it so much after so long that you don't think about it anymore.


Of course I didn't look as half as hard as Tracy did. She was all up in that machines
grill..






She was the finder of the cache though. I tried to picture this machine actually moving way back then. It is a cool piece of work, you should check it out!

Birthday of the Beast

What a terrific park. There were so many ducks and geese out today.
What's funny about this cache adventure is, is that me and Tracy were
walking along and she was like, "OMG look at all this dog shit we are
stepping in"!
I was thinking, wait there isn't any dogs allowed at this park. I look
a little better at the pills of poo and its duck shit...LOL
There was tons of it. No way of stepping around any of it. So our shoes have
been duck-a-fied.




The coords to this cache took us about 50ft from the actual cache. The woods by it were to thick. So this time Tracy had the gps and I took off looking.



Guess what?? I did find it. I'm starting to think like a true geocacher now I think. But sometimes the obvious isn't so. But this time it was. Wait maybe thats why I have the luck cause its to easy sometimes... lol

Down by the Riverside

I have been to this park several times before I started geocaching. Use to go there to fish or just relax. Never knew all around me were little treasures.. :)

Took lots of pictures of this one!! This one is going to the first stage of 4.

Found stage 1.. but of course we had to climb through the bars to get to it..Just call me monkey for short today..lol


So off to the next stage. I'm not going to show a picture of that stage, cause I always find stages like this one a joy to find.. Lets just say it amazes me how they did it. So we did
find stage 2, so now we are off to stage 3..

Awesome bridge huh! The view was fantastic.

Found stage 3!!
If you wondering why you don't see many pictures of me, well that's cause I'm always behind the camera.. lol


The finally cache was right around the corner. Its one of those finds that you know you should be looking at exactly where you know it should be, but you never do. So I'm crawling almost on hands and knees through bushes, while Tracy is trying to get the exact location, which she normally does. Guess what, yep she found it!! We had a great time doing this one and hope later to come back and do some more in the park.

Finally

A quick stop for this cache. The first stage you couldn't miss. It was pretty cool how this guy set this one up... Meaning the actual coords find.

Got the coords and parked the car. Walked through the trail. But the minute we hit the trail the gps wasn't helping us. So normally when that happens I just take baby steps and it usually stays going. While I'm doing this Tracy takes off and a few mins. later she yells out FOUND IT! Sheesh I don't understand how she does it sometimes...lol

It was a cool find. Lots of trash laying around. It needs a trash pick up day for this cache for sure.. Other then that, it was pretty surroundings.

Gordon Park Deux

While out doing the cache below this one, we thought we would do another cache in the park.
So we put the coords in and off we go.


There is 4 stages to this cache, which I so enjoy. (hears daughter grumble in the back ground..lol)
I found the first stage which was a small film canister hidden in the tree.


Then off we go to the second stage. Daughter took off and I went to go get the car. I was hopeing
that she would find the second stage before I caught up with her.. At least that was my plan..



I parked the car and walked to were I thought she would be. Yelled out her name and she was like ya right here.. (with that your here already voice)..lol
So I took my time, which wasn't a problem cause I had to figure out how to cross the little
creek right there.
I caught up with her and she looks at me and says, "THIS IS WHY I HATE MULTI STAGES I CANT EVER DO THEM!!!"..
I said come on lets look together. Well it took a long time let me tell ya. The hint to this stage
was: Hanging Bison Tube
Ok well I had no idea what that was, but they did say it was the size of a AA battery.
I started by then looking towards the ground, cause there was nothing hanging darn it. Daughter is sitting on a stump by now giving up.
I noticed a small piece of red yarn at the bottom of this "tree"<< style="font-style: italic;">WOW
I was very impressed with it!



Thank god we found that one, now off to the next stage..
We came to the playground part of the park and of course had to stop and play.
Well my daughter did, I just took pictures! This wasn't the location of the next stage, its just we can't refuse playground equipment!! Of course don't tell her that she's 16 right now..lol
I love when she is my little girl again.

The next stage was only like 60ft away so off we went. Now old age might have something to do with this, but I thought we were actually at the cache stage. Now it said it was in a ammo box and well in this area there was no way a ammo box was laying around! Then we looked at the paper and we were still on stage 3 and the hint was: YELLOW
Well there was a yellow posted sign.. and yep there was the coords on it..She was proud to have finally found something.


All right now off to the final find. I'm not going to put detail in, but I did find it..LOL

A Beautiful Day in May

Well it was a beautiful day in September..lol
Actually it really was a great day to explore this cache.

We parked at Gordon Park and walked across the street to the trail.


I always hate being in the 500ft to go thing. Only cause you know you got some walking
to do. Really it's not bad, but I have whine about something..lol

My daughter directed us to the spot.

I don't know what she likes doing more, the directing or the finding. She knows she has a better chance of finding stages or the cache if she doesn't have the gps in her hand, cause while she's looking at it, I'm already searching..

Guess what I FOUND IT!!


But, she decided what she wanted out of it and looky what she got..LOL