GeoCoins

I know you're thinking that GeoWoodstock IX is old news by now.  But I've just realized that I didn't really share the spoils of my trip.  So I'd like to take the opportunity to do so now. 

Trackables are a special part of geocaching.  There are many types of them as well-geocoins, path tags, and Travel Bugs to name a few.  What makes these items special is that they each come with their own serial number used for tracking the item's location.  You can choose to pick up and move along one of these trackables or you can just "discover" it, meaning you log that you saw it instead of removing it from the geocache. 

I've always wanted me own geocoins, ever since peaceout showed me hers last September.  I had a great opportunity to shop around in Pennsylvania and I came home with five, including the one Brad picked out.

When registering for GeoWoodstock, there were many options for packages.  Folks attending could come for free or you could choose from one of many paid packages.  The one I chose came with this GeoWoodstock coin.  The arrow is pointing to where the tracking number would be.  I blurred it out on this and the others so it couldn't be logged by someone eager for a freebie ;) 

This coin celebrates the fact that I made it to my first Mega event.  An event can only be considered Mega if it has over 500 people in attendance.  GeoWoodstock had over 5,000.  Events this size usually last a day or more and have smaller events that coincide with it. 

Back of the Mega coin

This coin has no special meaning behind it.  I chose it because I like the design and colors.

This is the coin Brad chose.  Not only did they have an EMT coin, but they also had one for firefighters and all branches of the military.  They also had one shaped like a miniature space shuttle.  The hatch opens up to show the tracking number.   


This last coin I chose because of the colors.  I love green.  I also thought it was unique in the way that the coin actually opens and closes on a hinge inside the body of the dragonfly. 

I initially thought that these coins would never see a cache.  I'm worried that they'll disappear much like my two Travel Bugs have.  I've seen two options for my situation.  One is to make a color photo copy onto some thick paper and laminate it.  I recently picked up a "coin" like this and thought it was a great idea.  My other option is to purchase a Proxy coin.   These folks had a booth set up at GeoWoodstock and they sell proxies so you don't have to put your actual coin in the cache.  Instead, you send out the duplicate which has the same tracking number as your original.  These copies are only a few dollars and wouldn't be as tremendous a loss as if the real coin went missing.

Other than coins, I also picked up a dozen or so new Path Tags which I'm eager to share.  Just not today...

Battleship: Bangor-Final

On Wednesday, my husband and I planned an early anniversary celebration since we both had to work on our actual anniversary.  We each chose a place to eat and a couple of activities to do.  I'm sure it won't surprise you to know that I chose geocaching as one of the day's events.  Really all I wanted to do was to finish the Battleship series I had started a couple weeks prior but we actually ended up doing six that day.

Armed with both the GPS and the c:geo app for my phone, we trekked into the woods looking for the cache that had previously alluded me.  Both devices led us to within six feet of each other and that's when we began the search.  We went in opposite directions, walking in somewhat of a circle.  We lifted logs and rocks, finding more bugs than anything else.  Thankfully there weren't any bugs to make the hunt any more frustrating than it already was. 

After about fifteen minutes with no luck, we widened our search.  Brad reminded me that because of the container we were looking for, it would have to be hidden in or under something fairly large.  It wasn't long after hearing his advice when, lo and behold, I found it!  Brad came running over to help me remove the container from its very clever hiding place. 

The contents of the cache were pretty decent and in good shape.  We ended up taking a Marvel Superheroes race car and left a Matchbox shaped ice pack.  Brad was impressed with the amount of time and effort that the owner of the cache put into this hide.  He's now trying to think of a series of his own to put out :)



Battleship: Bangor

Occasionally, instead of doing a traditional geocache, I'll get a little bit of ambition and decide to do a multi-step geocache, or multi for short.  A multi requires the finder to go to several locations to collect clues that will lead you to the final cache, which will be in a traditional container.  Sometimes, each stage of the multi will have a container, other times you will be looking at a landmark or other object. 

Last week I started working on a multi that required you to answer true or false about questions on a 5x5 grid.  It was set up like a Battleship grid so I didn't necessarily have to find all 25 locations, just the places where you would get a "hit."  I ended up having to only visit 19 of the squares. 

What I enjoyed about this multi was that although you had to travel to several locations, they were all in a condensed area of Bangor.  I got to see areas that I wouldn't normally visit and learned some things about my city that I didn't already know. 

My first stop was one of Bangor's notable buildings-Thomas Hill Standpipe.  This historical fixture was built in 1897 in a mere six months' time.  People used to be able to go inside to visit but in 1940 a young boy fell between the stairwell and the tank and died of his injuries.  Now, the Standpipe is opened once a season.  Actually, tomorrow is the date of the summer sunset tour.  For more information, click here.  

Although school's not in session, I visited both Husson University and the University College of Bangor to see if I could get any hits on my Battleship board.  Stepping onto the Husson grounds brought back many memories.  I didn't go to college there but when I was a Junior in high school, I had an opportunity to attend Dirigo Girls State.  Girls State gave young women an opportunity to participate in and learn more about government.  To say this program wasn't for me is an understatement.  I dreaded every session and lecture that I attended.  I'm still glad I went though, because I did enjoy spending time with my friends and feeling cool for being on a college campus. 

Before breaking for lunch, I visited the Mt. Hope Cemetery which is the second oldest garden cemetery in America.  Famous mobster Al Brady was buried here after he was shot and killed by the FBI in 1937.  Brady was wanted for 200 robberies, several counts of assaults, and four counts of murder.  Giacomo's, a sandwich shop in Downtown Bangor, has a painting of the famous Public Enemy #1.  Maine's 25th governor and America's 15th Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin was also laid to rest here. 

I was very happy that my hunt for clues took me to Cascade Park.  The day was a hot one and I was able to walk past the fountain and let the mist cool my face.  Families were sitting in the shade sharing picnic lunches and others were strolling along the walking paths.  It's not uncommon to see a wedding taking place here in the summer.  The fountain, flora, and fauna make for a beautiful natural background for any occasion.  There actually used to be a regular geocache on one of the walking trails but it has been disabled for a few months now.  This was one of my favorite stops of the day.

Now that I've sunk the battleships, I can take my clues and go find the final cache.  I know the location and have tried looking for it once with no luck.  This heat isn't exactly encouraging and sweat in the eyes makes it difficult to look for anything.  On some cool evening this week, I'll make my way back out into the woods so I can finally put this multi to rest. 

 

  

GeoWoodstock IX-Part 2-The Event

Brad, Derek, and I pulled into the parking lot for the world's biggest geocaching event of the year at about 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.  Just as I walked through the gate, I recognized the faces of a couple of Maine geocachers and went to say hello.  They were both volunteering at the event and pointed me toward the log book for the event.  At every physical geocache, there is a log book to sign to serve as proof that you were there.  This event was no different, only the log was.  Folks were signing their geocaching names on a long wooden plank instead of a white-lined paper notebook. 

My next stop was the registration building where the line was long but moved quickly.  People all around me were chatting and talking about past GeoWoodstock events.  Geocachers are notoriously friendly and were happy to talk to me even though I was a stranger.  I met folks from Pennsylvania, New York, and Tennessee just while waiting in line for five minutes.  Inside the building, cachers picked up their name badges and whatever other swag they paid for.  My registration package came with a T-shirt, a GeoWoodstock coin, Pathtags, and a lunch voucher. 

There was so much to see and do that I barely knew where to start.  First, I browsed the vendors' booths to see where my money would be best spent.  For sale were beautiful coins, T-shirts, cache containers, and much more.  By the end of the day I had six coins, two cache containers, and a water bottle.  One of my coins was an achievement coin for my newly acquired 250 find mark.  Although that might seem like a lot, there were many people there with finds up into the thousands, and one with 9,000 finds. 

One of my favorite parts of geocaching is trackables.  Trackables include coins, path tags, and different types of travel bugs.  Each trackable has its own number on it which allows the finder to log it into the website and see where it has been.  Some trackables have traveled all over the world.  Some trackables have specific missions about which types of caches they want to visit or what their destination is.  There was an entire building dedicated to the trade of trackables.  There were several bins set up, each labeled with a region of the country or world and filled with bags of coins and bugs.  I brought a trackable from a cache I found in Orrington and got to trade it for one from the New England bucket.  The travel bug I picked up had a destination goal to see as many of the New England states as possible, a goal I was happy to help it achieve. 

Some trackables are very large or heavy.  Some trackables are very special and aren't made to trade but to "discover."  Here are some fun examples:

Mingled in the crowd were lots of junior geocachers.  There were special events and caches set up especially for their age group.  In one building was a treasure hunt where kiddos used different tools to dig into wood shavings to see what they could find.  Signal the frog, who is the mascot for geocaching, also made an appearance.  One might think that a giant talking frog would be there for the juniors but he had quite a horde of adult followers, myself included. 

Just before leaving, I got to meet P.J., a geocaching friend I had previously only talked to on the internet.  He has an excellent blog that talks about geocaching, among many other things.  Check him out here. 

I definitely have to thank Brad and Derek for making this birthday one that will be difficult to top.  Muggles that they are, they didn't complain once about the heat, the crowd, or the fourteen hour ride back to Maine.  Brad has already told me that we're going to next year's GeoWoodstock which will be in Indiana.  Am I lucky or what?

GeoWoodstock IX-Part 1-The Trip

My husband, Brad, decided to give me the best birthday present ever by taking me and our friend Derek on a trip to GeoWoodstock in Warren, Pennsylvania.  GeoWoodstock is a "mega" event, the biggest geocaching event in the world each year.  This year, there were over 5,000 people in attendance.  People from as far away as South America and Europe made the trip to Pennsylvania this year to congregate with other cachers and take part in the annual festivities.

The first leg of our trip began on Wednesday night at 8:00 p.m. as we headed toward North Billerica, Massachusetts where Brad's aunt and uncle live.  We made it there close to midnight but stayed up for a while longer talking and catching up with Sally and Joe.  At 1:00 I had to hit the sheets. 

In the morning when I woke up, I was filled in on the day's agenda: Lunch at one of our favorite eateries, Transformers 3 in 3D, mini-golf, and then dinner at our favorite Chinese place.  Almost every time we visit Sally and Joe, we eat at Kastore's in North Chelmsford.  It has been a favorite of Brad's since he started visiting his aunt and uncle when he was just a little boy.  After the movie, we went to Max's Country Golf in Tyngsboro.  The competition was tough in our group of five and I tied for second place with Derek.  What I loved most about Max's was the animals they have there including rabbits and goats. 

Our last stop of the day was a restaurant called China Blossom.  Famous for its buffet, it can be a dangerous place if you don't limit yourself to just a few trips.    Not only do they have the traditional foods you would expect to see, they also have a prime rib station and a place to make-your-own-soup.  I usually gorge on the chicken fingers, pork fried rice, and delicious green beans.  For desert, they have eight different types of ice cream and at least three different cakes or pies.  My absolute favorite is their red velvet cake.  Like I said, dangerous.

One thing you will never be when visiting with Sally and Joe is hungry.  The next morning, they cooked the biggest steak I had ever seen on the grill and eggs and bacon in the fry pan.  Strawberries, blueberries, English muffins, and a variety of pastries were all offered as sides.  We ate outside on the deck and watched the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks have their breakfasts.  And although we had just stuffed our stomachs full once again, Sally and Joe presented me with a birthday cake to top things off.  They are some of the most generous and thoughtful people you will ever have the privilege of meeting. 

Although we would have loved to stay and visit for another day, we knew we had a seven hour drive ahead of us.  So we packed the car, said good-bye, and got back on the road heading west toward New York.  I didn't expect to see such green landscape in our travels through New York.  The rolling hills and farm lands really surprised me.  I almost think the farm population of New York is bigger than that of Aroostook County here in Maine.  We pulled into the Econo Lodge in Elmira around dinner time.  There seemed to be a lot of businesses condensed into the little area surrounding the ramps leading to and from the interstate.  We ate dinner at T.G.I. Friday's after exploring some of the malls in town.  My favorite store was Holly's Hounds, a pet store.  They had ducklings in their display window which sucked me right in.  

 

Shortly after getting back to our room, I got tucked under the covers and tried to fall asleep.  I don't know how much sleep I actually got because my mind was racing with the thoughts of what GeoWoodstock was going to be like.  At 5:00 a.m. the next morning when my alarm went off, we got up and showered and then drove for another few hours until we came to Warren, Pennsylvania and the home of GeoWoodstock IX.