Woohoo!

Paul looking for Goomba's 1st, for the DH requirement of the Hermit's Quest

I've been working on the Hermit's Quest for the past 17 days. It was a great chance to visit some interesting caches I haven't had a chance to get to yet. The start date slipped past, so I was a day late. You can only log caches once per 24 hours, so I knew I wasn't going to be in the top 25 due to my late start. The first 25 finishers get a limited edition coin, and there are 50 more that are given away randomly from the 26-500th positions.

Last night, I logged my last cache, and completed my map. The Cachunuts are known for having quite a few different ciphers and codes on their final maps, with only one translating into the true answer. I was tired and Paul was trying help type while I was decrypting what appeared to be the right cipher. It kept turning translating into gibberish, and I finally decided that since I wasn't getting a coin anyway, it could wait til today.

Twenty four hours away from a problem and no helping toddler hands make a huge difference in solving the problem. The phrase I was trying to decrypt using the key on the last puzzle piece? Wrong phrase. The correct one had been staring me in the face for most of the last week ;). Turns out I had good luck with the random number generator, and the spot I finished in today got a coin. Funny how getting something small you hadn't expected can make you smile like that.

[Friday Night Geoblogging]

A ginormo cache for a Ginormobaby

I've been playing catch up most of this week, and getting ready for my parents' arrival this weekend. Before I left for Geoquest, Paul tagged along on a couple of caches for the Hermit's Quest. We finally did the Project A.P.E cache in Rockville. Paul was pretty impressed by the size of it.

We also did another semi historic cache, The Bunnyman Cometh, which involves a local legend. Then it was down to Dumfries to grab my Hermit's Quest "DH" requirement before I drove down to Geoquest.

I managed to grab a few more caches that qualified for the Hermit's Quest, and no, I'm not addicted to geocaching. Today, we went to Sugarloaf Mountain, which was part of the Antietam campaign in 1862. Paul didn't want to ride in the hip sling, but quickly discovered walking up mountains is hard work. He wanted to stop and take a nap on the paved trail, but he finally decided riding in the hip sling was more comfortable.

Oh, and I got a FTF last night at President Truman's Washington Friend. Jack enjoyed the dog park, but was a little confused about the lighthouse. It's a really pretty area, right on the Potomac. It was dark last night, so I didn't catch that the southernmost DC cornerstone from 1793 is in the same park.

Spring is here…

...and allergy season has started for me. I never had allergies before I moved to Virginia, so I always think I'm getting sick when they start up. I need to see my doctor about allergy meds anyway, so maybe she'll have something a little more effective for my spring allergies. Maybe the good old mountain air will help things out this weekend.

I went geocaching yesterday, and started the Hermit's Quest. I did three caches in a park in Haymarket, which was packed. They had a rodeo going on at the same time as several soccer and softball games. I got the requirement #4, the boys' cache on a cache placed by a group of boy scouts.