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.