Thursday, October 11, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
At Last! A Day of Caching
It has finally happened. I got to spend the day geocaching. The boys spent the weekend with my parents so on Sunday Savanna and I drove over to Gulf Breeze and went on a much anticipated cache hunt with my dad. The boys wanted to stay with Na-Na so Dad, Savanna and I climbed in the truck and headed out. The first cache on our list was dad's new cache - Shoreline South #1. He wouldn't give us any help so I started studying the GPS and decided which trail to take. Of course I missed a very obvious clue right off the bat but I still managed to find the right path. He doesn't want me to write anything or post pictures here that will give the cache away so I'm just going to say that it's a great hide. He picked a good spot and I'm sure the cachers who look for this one will enjoy the experience.
After we found his cache we looked for the CITO 2005 cache that is in the same park. Dad found this one on Saturday after hiding his cache so I took the lead. We had to do a little minor bushwacking down the fence line of the dog park but once we got to the end of the fence the woods cleared to a good open trail.
The GPS took me right to ground zero where I beat around a palmetto bush for a couple of minutes with no luck. The mosquitoes were huge and hungry so it didn't take long before I told Dad that I wanted to buy a clue LOL He showed me a hollowed out tree next to the palmetto and I leaned around to look and just knew the cache would be there but the tree was empty. I stood back up and as I was thinking "the cache is missing" I looked up and there it was on a tree limb overhead. We both agreed the hollow spot was the obvious place and that putting the cache overhead threw us off. Great hiding spot!
There is a 3rd cache in this park as well so we drove down to look for it too. This one is near the water but there were muggles around so we decided to come back for that one another day. This park is a big park right on Santa Rosa Sound with picnic tables, a dock and a boat ramp and a pretty little beach.
Our next stop was Where's Bubba. This cache is a reminder of Gulf Breeze's famous UFO days. For those of you who don't know - Gulf Breeze was the location of MANY UFO sightings back in the 1980s. People came from all over to watch for them and a lot of people swear they saw one. A few years later a home was sold and supposedly a fake UFO was found in the attic. The owner of the home denies any knowledge of the fake and believes it was planted by teenagers as a way to discredit his many UFO sightings. The cache is located in Shoreline North park and don't you know that we saw a UFO! We even have a picture to prove it
Looks like a UFO doesn't it? It's actually a disc thrown by a man playing disc golf. This park has one of the only real disc golf courses in the area and while we were there we talked to a man who was practicing. I had no idea disc golf was such a popular sport and to really show my age - I thought disc golf was frisbee LOL The discs are much heavier and are thrown down a fairway for points. Seems like an interesting game but much harder than it looks. We wandered around the mostly dry lake until we found ground zero and then we spent a long time poking around a palmetto bush. Thre was a log off to the side and I looked around it for a minute but Dad had my snake stick so I didn't look too hard. After beating the bush for quite a while we were just about ready to give up when I suggested Dad poke around the backside of the log and of course there it was. He laughed and said he wished I'd have pointed the log out before he spent 10 minutes beating the palmetto LOL
Next we were after 2 caches in a small park on Escambia Bay so off we went. This park is a water access park with a long boardwalk down to the Bay.
The first cache is at the beginning of the boardwalk and the GPS tells us the cache is in the brush. Thick brush with several spider webs strung aross the non-trail. I was VERY glad dad was willing to go in LOL He almost needed a machete to go 5 feet off the boardwalk!
We signed the log and continued on down the boardwalk to the next cache Butcherpen Cove. The boardwalk ends at a little beach on the Bay with a picnic table and water volleyball net. It looks like a great little neighborhood beach spot. The cache is located off the boardwalk in some even thicker brush. The GPS took us to the spot but the vines and bushes were so thick we couldn't see a thing.
We poked all around in there for a while and finally decided that we'd have to come back for this one once it gets cold and some of the brush dies back. Of course when I got home that night I saw where someone else had been there that day and they did find it LOL
Next on our list was a multi at another Bay front park down close to the bridge. The first stage is small and stuck in the bushes behind Taco Bell. We beat those bushes for a few minutes but never did see the cache. It was starting to get late and we still had a couple more caches we wanted to look for so we called that one another Did Not Find and off we went.
We drove to the foot of the 3 mile bridge to hunt the George Spends the Day Fishing Cache. What a great cache! I love caches that offer a history lesson. To get the coordinates for the actual cache you have to wander both sides of the park reading placards that give information about the history of this area. Information about shipwrecks that have been found in Pensacola Bay, old letters regarding the area and other interesting facts make this a very interesting walk. I've lived here forever and never knew there was a walkway under the bridge that connects the 2 parks.
We wandered around reading the signs, watching the fisherman and enjoying the incredible view of the Bay.
We finally gathered all of the info we needed to find the cache but when we got to the spot there were teenaged muggles fihing pretty much at ground zero. We decided that have to come back for this one another day since my dad declared that "these are the kind of muggles that will mess with the cache if they see us" LOL So we got all of the numbers and put the coordinates together and we even know where the cache is but never did get to the cache today. Wandering the park was fun and interesting so it wasn't a total loss.
We saw this guy while we were there and I guess he doesn't like bug spray so he brought his fly swatter LOL
Our last stop for the day was for Who Kicked the Dogs Out which is located in a small neighborhood park. It's got great play equipment and a nice little dock on the bayou. We found the cache without much trouble at all and even though several people mentioned in the logs that a neighbor lady didn't like people messing around the fence so close to her house we got lucky and didn't run into her LOL It was a really fun day and I can't wait for the weather to get a little cooler so we can hunt the caches on Pensacola Beach!
After we found his cache we looked for the CITO 2005 cache that is in the same park. Dad found this one on Saturday after hiding his cache so I took the lead. We had to do a little minor bushwacking down the fence line of the dog park but once we got to the end of the fence the woods cleared to a good open trail.
The GPS took me right to ground zero where I beat around a palmetto bush for a couple of minutes with no luck. The mosquitoes were huge and hungry so it didn't take long before I told Dad that I wanted to buy a clue LOL He showed me a hollowed out tree next to the palmetto and I leaned around to look and just knew the cache would be there but the tree was empty. I stood back up and as I was thinking "the cache is missing" I looked up and there it was on a tree limb overhead. We both agreed the hollow spot was the obvious place and that putting the cache overhead threw us off. Great hiding spot!
There is a 3rd cache in this park as well so we drove down to look for it too. This one is near the water but there were muggles around so we decided to come back for that one another day. This park is a big park right on Santa Rosa Sound with picnic tables, a dock and a boat ramp and a pretty little beach.
Our next stop was Where's Bubba. This cache is a reminder of Gulf Breeze's famous UFO days. For those of you who don't know - Gulf Breeze was the location of MANY UFO sightings back in the 1980s. People came from all over to watch for them and a lot of people swear they saw one. A few years later a home was sold and supposedly a fake UFO was found in the attic. The owner of the home denies any knowledge of the fake and believes it was planted by teenagers as a way to discredit his many UFO sightings. The cache is located in Shoreline North park and don't you know that we saw a UFO! We even have a picture to prove it
Looks like a UFO doesn't it? It's actually a disc thrown by a man playing disc golf. This park has one of the only real disc golf courses in the area and while we were there we talked to a man who was practicing. I had no idea disc golf was such a popular sport and to really show my age - I thought disc golf was frisbee LOL The discs are much heavier and are thrown down a fairway for points. Seems like an interesting game but much harder than it looks. We wandered around the mostly dry lake until we found ground zero and then we spent a long time poking around a palmetto bush. Thre was a log off to the side and I looked around it for a minute but Dad had my snake stick so I didn't look too hard. After beating the bush for quite a while we were just about ready to give up when I suggested Dad poke around the backside of the log and of course there it was. He laughed and said he wished I'd have pointed the log out before he spent 10 minutes beating the palmetto LOL
Next we were after 2 caches in a small park on Escambia Bay so off we went. This park is a water access park with a long boardwalk down to the Bay.
The first cache is at the beginning of the boardwalk and the GPS tells us the cache is in the brush. Thick brush with several spider webs strung aross the non-trail. I was VERY glad dad was willing to go in LOL He almost needed a machete to go 5 feet off the boardwalk!
We signed the log and continued on down the boardwalk to the next cache Butcherpen Cove. The boardwalk ends at a little beach on the Bay with a picnic table and water volleyball net. It looks like a great little neighborhood beach spot. The cache is located off the boardwalk in some even thicker brush. The GPS took us to the spot but the vines and bushes were so thick we couldn't see a thing.
We poked all around in there for a while and finally decided that we'd have to come back for this one once it gets cold and some of the brush dies back. Of course when I got home that night I saw where someone else had been there that day and they did find it LOL Next on our list was a multi at another Bay front park down close to the bridge. The first stage is small and stuck in the bushes behind Taco Bell. We beat those bushes for a few minutes but never did see the cache. It was starting to get late and we still had a couple more caches we wanted to look for so we called that one another Did Not Find and off we went.
We drove to the foot of the 3 mile bridge to hunt the George Spends the Day Fishing Cache. What a great cache! I love caches that offer a history lesson. To get the coordinates for the actual cache you have to wander both sides of the park reading placards that give information about the history of this area. Information about shipwrecks that have been found in Pensacola Bay, old letters regarding the area and other interesting facts make this a very interesting walk. I've lived here forever and never knew there was a walkway under the bridge that connects the 2 parks.
We wandered around reading the signs, watching the fisherman and enjoying the incredible view of the Bay.
We finally gathered all of the info we needed to find the cache but when we got to the spot there were teenaged muggles fihing pretty much at ground zero. We decided that have to come back for this one another day since my dad declared that "these are the kind of muggles that will mess with the cache if they see us" LOL So we got all of the numbers and put the coordinates together and we even know where the cache is but never did get to the cache today. Wandering the park was fun and interesting so it wasn't a total loss.
We saw this guy while we were there and I guess he doesn't like bug spray so he brought his fly swatter LOL
Our last stop for the day was for Who Kicked the Dogs Out which is located in a small neighborhood park. It's got great play equipment and a nice little dock on the bayou. We found the cache without much trouble at all and even though several people mentioned in the logs that a neighbor lady didn't like people messing around the fence so close to her house we got lucky and didn't run into her LOL It was a really fun day and I can't wait for the weather to get a little cooler so we can hunt the caches on Pensacola Beach!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Finally!
It seems like forever since I've been able to get out and hunt a cache. Real life obligations, rain, and heat have kept me from being able to look for any caches but today my luck changed. One of my real life obligations actually took me to Ferry Park in Fort Walton and there just happens to be a newer cache there that we haven't found. Savanna had a cross country meet at the park this afternoon and I realized that as soon as she was done we could find the cache and not throw our schedule off at all. Pop-pop met us there and he was ready to find the cache too so after Savanna's part of the race was over out came our GPSs and off we went. Ferry Park is a nice park with a long running trail, baseball fields, tennis courts, a playground and a pretty little stream that runs right through it all. We saw a LOT of turtles swimming in the stream.
We didn't see any snakes but Rook and Pop-Pop were ready with their sticks just in case.
Conner found the cache, we traded swag, rehid the cache and were on our way.
We didn't see any snakes but Rook and Pop-Pop were ready with their sticks just in case.
Conner found the cache, we traded swag, rehid the cache and were on our way.
Friday, August 17, 2007
A Little Caching on a Long Drive
My daughter has spent the last 2 weeks in the Keys with my parents - lucky girl! It was finally time for her to come home and since my parents were staying in Bradenton a little longer my dad and I decided that he would bring her up to Perry and I would meet them there and bring her on home. We decided to meet at a rest stop north of Perry that we call the Blue Rock. This rest stop has a huge rock out in front and for as long as I can remember it's been painted blue. The last time we were there a State Trooper was there and I asked if he knew why it was painted blue and he tells me that the County keeps painting it grey and that as soon as they do someone comes and paints it blue again. They don't know who or why but according to the Trooper the county has given up and the rock will be left blue. 
So the Blue Rock is about a four hour drive from my house and I decided that an eight hour car trip to basically nowhere with two little boys would not be a fun trip and that them and their dad should stay home LOL I decided to cache hunt my way down there and the night before I left I spent a while picking through the cache listings choosing which caches I would stop and look for. I loaded the GPS and early the next morning I was off. The first cache I stopped for was the Ponce De Leon I-10 Rest Area Cache. This cache was originally placed by an old friend of ours who has since passed on and the cache is now maintained by a different cacher. I thought it would be nice to log a find on one of Jimmy's old caches so I was excited to get to this one. I pulled in to the rest area - which sits back off the Interstate and is always a pretty place to stop. I pulled around to the back of the lot and found a trail into the woods. The GPS bounced around a bit but I seemed to be in the right area. The clue says the cache is in the end of an old fallen log. Obviously this clue was written a long time ago because there are a LOT of old fallen logs. That's not going to help and the GPS seems to be getting drunk and jumping from 9 feet to 30 feet and then back again. I did not realize this cache was going to be a tromp through the woods cache.
And I'm now way out of sight of the rest area and alone so I'm looking forward for the cache and over my shoulder to make sure no one is behind me at the same time. I'm not dressed for traipsing through the woods and I'm starting to itch but I'm here and I really want to find this cache. Then I hit the spider web. I never saw it coming. One minute I was walking along and the next minute I was covered in spider web. And I do mean covered. It's a good thing I'm not too freaked out by spiders because this web was so thick I was pulling it out of my hair and off my arms by the handful. As I'm pulling the web off of me it dawns on me that a really big spider must have made this web. I won't say I panicked but I can tell you that I did a serious jumping, shaking and brushing dance that I'm glad no one else witnessed LOL I never did see the spider but then I began seeing lots more webs strung through the trees and across the little trail I'm on. Ok it's hot and I've been here for a while and I've still got a long drive so I came back out of the woods and called this one a Did not Find. I'll come back some time with Troy and then he can go first and knock down the spider webs LOL Back onto the Interstate I go and of course I itched and wondered if I would run off the road if a big spider showed up in my hair - and then I wondered if the crash would kill the spider or would it crawl off into the woods to build another giant web LOL The next cache on my list was 24/7. It's a micro at the Chipley exit. I'm guessing it's a gas station but when I get to the exit I see a Walmart and the GPS tells me that's where the cache is. The GPS had sobered up quite a bit and led me right to it. It's a nano on a light post right in front of the outdoor garden supply area and I was able to grab it with no problem. I got back in the car to sign the log and as I finish a Walmart lady pulls up with a forklift loaded with potting soil and guess where she's going to unload it. Yep right directly in front of the light post. And to make things worse she props her butt against the light post for leverage as she's pulling these bags off the little lift. I'm in my car on the other side of the post holding this cache and thinking there's no possible way to put this back until she leaves. I'm laughing and looking at this cache and thinking that I really need to get on the road and that if she doesn't leave soon I'll just have to go ask her to move so I can put the cache back LOL Luck was on my side because just about then she got a call on her Walmart radio and she walked inside. I jumped out of the car and put the cache back jumped back in the car and off I went. I've never had a muggle sit on the spot I needed to return a cache too before LOL The next cache was the I10 East West Travel Bug Motel. This rest area is just east of the Apalachicola River and is absolutely gorgeous. There are rolling hills all around it and the winding road leading up to the rest area looks like something you'd find in the mountains. The next cache was at the very top of the hill and looked like it would be an easy find. The log said you should take the path at the top of the hill and these were not thick dense woods like the ones behind the Ponce De Leon area so I didn't think this would be a problem at all. I found the little trail 
and followed my GPS along the edge of the woods right to a wide completely clear path. 
Geez no matter how many times I've done this I still manage to come in the hard way every time LOL Once I found the path (note to self - a path and a trail are NOT the same thing LOL)it was a nice walk a little farther into the woods where I saw a huge tree that had been uprooted. I knew the cache would be on the other side and sure enough there it was.
This would have been really easy if I'd started on the right "path". I took the cache back up onto the path and sat down to check out the contents. There were lots of travel bugs so I swapped one I picked up at the Flash Mob last weekend for a Yak Attack Kayak which is a cool die cast kayak that I knew would be happier down at the beach. I packed everything back up, replaced the cache and decided to try for a micro located on the other side of the rest area. I hunted that cache which is in a small clump of woods for about 10 minutes but I never did find that one. My drunken GPS was no help and while I'm pretty sure I was in the right area I never did see a cache. By now it was really hot and the nats were awful so I decided that it was time to move on. I might try that one again the next time I go that way. It was getting close to the time that I was supposed to meet my dad so I put the GPS down and drove straight on to the Blue Rock. There is a cache at the Blue Rock called 7 to 7 that we hunted back in February on our way to Homossasa Springs. We didn't find it on our way down so we stopped on our way home and tried again. We even enlisted the help of the rest area attendant who said he knew where the cache was and none of us could find it. I checked the log before I left home and it showed several recent finds so I decided to try again. I got to the Blue Rock and had lunch and visited with my dad and daughter for a while and then we went to find the cache. Dad and Savanna hung back a little so I assumed they were going to let me be the one to find the cache. We got to the spot and found 4 really big spiders and there behind a palmetto bush was the cache. I really don't think it was there when we looked before because it was pretty easy to spot and I went right to it. 
I opened the container and was absolutely shocked to see that my dad and Savanna had already signed the log. Those rats beat me to it! I had talked to Savanna earlier and she said they were running ahead of schedule because Pop-Pop was driving fast. Now I know he was driving fast so he could beat me to the cache LOL We loaded Savanna's stuff into my car and started for home. I had several more caches on my list but she was ready to get home after her long trip and I was really starting to itch all over so we decided to turn off the GPS and run straight for home. When we got home I realized that I'd learned something besides the difference between a trail and a path - I learned that you should not sit on the ground in the woods in shorts and that if you are itching after sitting on the ground in the woods you probably have red bugs all over your butt. Yes - I have chiggers on my butt LOL They're covered with nail polish now and have finally stopped itching but that's one lesson I won't soon forget LOL
So the Blue Rock is about a four hour drive from my house and I decided that an eight hour car trip to basically nowhere with two little boys would not be a fun trip and that them and their dad should stay home LOL I decided to cache hunt my way down there and the night before I left I spent a while picking through the cache listings choosing which caches I would stop and look for. I loaded the GPS and early the next morning I was off. The first cache I stopped for was the Ponce De Leon I-10 Rest Area Cache. This cache was originally placed by an old friend of ours who has since passed on and the cache is now maintained by a different cacher. I thought it would be nice to log a find on one of Jimmy's old caches so I was excited to get to this one. I pulled in to the rest area - which sits back off the Interstate and is always a pretty place to stop. I pulled around to the back of the lot and found a trail into the woods. The GPS bounced around a bit but I seemed to be in the right area. The clue says the cache is in the end of an old fallen log. Obviously this clue was written a long time ago because there are a LOT of old fallen logs. That's not going to help and the GPS seems to be getting drunk and jumping from 9 feet to 30 feet and then back again. I did not realize this cache was going to be a tromp through the woods cache.
And I'm now way out of sight of the rest area and alone so I'm looking forward for the cache and over my shoulder to make sure no one is behind me at the same time. I'm not dressed for traipsing through the woods and I'm starting to itch but I'm here and I really want to find this cache. Then I hit the spider web. I never saw it coming. One minute I was walking along and the next minute I was covered in spider web. And I do mean covered. It's a good thing I'm not too freaked out by spiders because this web was so thick I was pulling it out of my hair and off my arms by the handful. As I'm pulling the web off of me it dawns on me that a really big spider must have made this web. I won't say I panicked but I can tell you that I did a serious jumping, shaking and brushing dance that I'm glad no one else witnessed LOL I never did see the spider but then I began seeing lots more webs strung through the trees and across the little trail I'm on. Ok it's hot and I've been here for a while and I've still got a long drive so I came back out of the woods and called this one a Did not Find. I'll come back some time with Troy and then he can go first and knock down the spider webs LOL Back onto the Interstate I go and of course I itched and wondered if I would run off the road if a big spider showed up in my hair - and then I wondered if the crash would kill the spider or would it crawl off into the woods to build another giant web LOL The next cache on my list was 24/7. It's a micro at the Chipley exit. I'm guessing it's a gas station but when I get to the exit I see a Walmart and the GPS tells me that's where the cache is. The GPS had sobered up quite a bit and led me right to it. It's a nano on a light post right in front of the outdoor garden supply area and I was able to grab it with no problem. I got back in the car to sign the log and as I finish a Walmart lady pulls up with a forklift loaded with potting soil and guess where she's going to unload it. Yep right directly in front of the light post. And to make things worse she props her butt against the light post for leverage as she's pulling these bags off the little lift. I'm in my car on the other side of the post holding this cache and thinking there's no possible way to put this back until she leaves. I'm laughing and looking at this cache and thinking that I really need to get on the road and that if she doesn't leave soon I'll just have to go ask her to move so I can put the cache back LOL Luck was on my side because just about then she got a call on her Walmart radio and she walked inside. I jumped out of the car and put the cache back jumped back in the car and off I went. I've never had a muggle sit on the spot I needed to return a cache too before LOL The next cache was the I10 East West Travel Bug Motel. This rest area is just east of the Apalachicola River and is absolutely gorgeous. There are rolling hills all around it and the winding road leading up to the rest area looks like something you'd find in the mountains. The next cache was at the very top of the hill and looked like it would be an easy find. The log said you should take the path at the top of the hill and these were not thick dense woods like the ones behind the Ponce De Leon area so I didn't think this would be a problem at all. I found the little trail 
and followed my GPS along the edge of the woods right to a wide completely clear path. 
Geez no matter how many times I've done this I still manage to come in the hard way every time LOL Once I found the path (note to self - a path and a trail are NOT the same thing LOL)it was a nice walk a little farther into the woods where I saw a huge tree that had been uprooted. I knew the cache would be on the other side and sure enough there it was. 
This would have been really easy if I'd started on the right "path". I took the cache back up onto the path and sat down to check out the contents. There were lots of travel bugs so I swapped one I picked up at the Flash Mob last weekend for a Yak Attack Kayak which is a cool die cast kayak that I knew would be happier down at the beach. I packed everything back up, replaced the cache and decided to try for a micro located on the other side of the rest area. I hunted that cache which is in a small clump of woods for about 10 minutes but I never did find that one. My drunken GPS was no help and while I'm pretty sure I was in the right area I never did see a cache. By now it was really hot and the nats were awful so I decided that it was time to move on. I might try that one again the next time I go that way. It was getting close to the time that I was supposed to meet my dad so I put the GPS down and drove straight on to the Blue Rock. There is a cache at the Blue Rock called 7 to 7 that we hunted back in February on our way to Homossasa Springs. We didn't find it on our way down so we stopped on our way home and tried again. We even enlisted the help of the rest area attendant who said he knew where the cache was and none of us could find it. I checked the log before I left home and it showed several recent finds so I decided to try again. I got to the Blue Rock and had lunch and visited with my dad and daughter for a while and then we went to find the cache. Dad and Savanna hung back a little so I assumed they were going to let me be the one to find the cache. We got to the spot and found 4 really big spiders and there behind a palmetto bush was the cache. I really don't think it was there when we looked before because it was pretty easy to spot and I went right to it. 
I opened the container and was absolutely shocked to see that my dad and Savanna had already signed the log. Those rats beat me to it! I had talked to Savanna earlier and she said they were running ahead of schedule because Pop-Pop was driving fast. Now I know he was driving fast so he could beat me to the cache LOL We loaded Savanna's stuff into my car and started for home. I had several more caches on my list but she was ready to get home after her long trip and I was really starting to itch all over so we decided to turn off the GPS and run straight for home. When we got home I realized that I'd learned something besides the difference between a trail and a path - I learned that you should not sit on the ground in the woods in shorts and that if you are itching after sitting on the ground in the woods you probably have red bugs all over your butt. Yes - I have chiggers on my butt LOL They're covered with nail polish now and have finally stopped itching but that's one lesson I won't soon forget LOL
Monday, August 13, 2007
The Flash Mob Event
Some of the Panama City Beach geocachers put together a Flash Mob Event for Saturday. A Flash Mob is an event where local cachers get together to meet and swap caching stories. It's usually a very short thirty minutes to an hour event and is really just a chance for locals to put a face with log names. There are much larger weekend long events that take place and those draw cachers from all over but Flash Mobs are mainly for locals who can just stop by. There was a couple that traveled from Tallahassee but I've seen their names in a lot of the caches in my area so I think they come over alot anyway. Team Gravelshot from Fort Walton drove over but the rest of the folks live in or around Panama City. It was really fun meeting everyone. I've email chatted with a lot of them and have hunted their caches and they've hunted ours and it was interesting hearing some of their stories.
The cachers who organized the event had a huge pile of travel bugs so those who came brought bugs and we had a big travel bug swap. I ended up with 2 pretty neat ones that I'm going to put in caches around here. While we were there we asked about the Big Bounce Cache that we'd just come from. We learned that the cache is no longer magnetic and is now stuck in one of the edges of the ball. We commented on the number of muggles and everyone laughed and told us that ball has been there for years but before construction of Pier Park the ball was just in the middle of a field. No wonder the logs didn't mention the muggles LOL After about an hour the event wrapped up and everyone headed for home. I asked Troy if he wanted to go back to the ball since we now know what to look for but he just rolled his eyes and said Not a chance! He hates being watched by muggles and is convinced someone will call the cops and he'll be accused of planting a bomb LOL We were going to eat dinner somewhere in PCB but we were all tired and decided the drive home would be worse after a big dinner so we came back to town and ate at McGuires.
We had a really good time at the Flash Mob and can't wait to get together with everyone again soon.
The cachers who organized the event had a huge pile of travel bugs so those who came brought bugs and we had a big travel bug swap. I ended up with 2 pretty neat ones that I'm going to put in caches around here. While we were there we asked about the Big Bounce Cache that we'd just come from. We learned that the cache is no longer magnetic and is now stuck in one of the edges of the ball. We commented on the number of muggles and everyone laughed and told us that ball has been there for years but before construction of Pier Park the ball was just in the middle of a field. No wonder the logs didn't mention the muggles LOL After about an hour the event wrapped up and everyone headed for home. I asked Troy if he wanted to go back to the ball since we now know what to look for but he just rolled his eyes and said Not a chance! He hates being watched by muggles and is convinced someone will call the cops and he'll be accused of planting a bomb LOL We were going to eat dinner somewhere in PCB but we were all tired and decided the drive home would be worse after a big dinner so we came back to town and ate at McGuires.
We had a really good time at the Flash Mob and can't wait to get together with everyone again soon.
Caching in Panama City Beach
We decided to attend the Flash Mob Event in Panama City Beach on Saturday and of course that meant grabbing as many caches as possible on our way. We loaded the car Saturday afternoon and off we went. Our first cache was Bat Circle which is located off Hwy 98 in an industrial park. There is a building under construction right next to the patch of woods the cache is hidden in but luckily it was Saturday afternoon and the area was deserted so we were able to grab the cache and sign the log with no problem at all. Our next stop was Fishin on Back Beach. We expected a pond or a bait and tackle store but our GPS led us to a strip mall right on Hwy 98. Most of the places seemed to be out of business but there was a sign for a fish/pet store so I guess that's where the name came from. Troy made the find - spotting an ammo can in a bush along the sidewalk. I love these parking lot ammo cans - much better than the standard micro you usually find. We grabbed the Terrific Taz travel bug and a weird chipmunk trype toy and left a deck of speed racer playing cards. Yeah!! We've found 2 so far. Off we go to the Highway to the Stars cache. This cache is a tribute to the Armed Forces and is located right at the intersection of the beach road and Hwy 79. Needless to say we might not have seen any muggles at the last 2 caches but they were everywhere at this cache. The cache is a magnetic stuck to the bottom of the sign so I took Conner's picture next to the sign and signed the log and acted like a tourist fascinated with this old sign LOL
Next we headed for the Pier Park Cache. Pier Park is a new complex being developed that has a movie theater, shops, restaurants and a huge field for festivals. The theater seems to be the only thing open so far but it looks like it will be a great place when it's finished. We determined that the cache we were after was on the other side of the huge field and that driving to it was out of the question. We started walking across the field but Rook had just woken up from a nap and was walking really slow. He was obviously miserable (being woke up and then told to walk a quarter mile across a field in roasting temperatures can not be pleasant LOL)so after a couple of minutes I took pity on him and cancelled the mission. We were back in the car with the AC running in no time LOL That cache will have to wait until everyone is fully awake and it's not 100 degrees outside. As we're cooling off in the car I see a giant beach ball on the other side of the parking lot. One of the caches we are after is called The Big Bounce - hmm. Troy checks the GPS and sure enough the coordinates for that one lead right to the beach ball we were looking at. We were able to park right next to it and let Rook sit in the AC and drink his juice - for which he was quite relieved LOL This beach ball is a giant statue in a roundabout in front of the movie theater and as luck would have it the movies were starting soon there were lots of muggles watching us as they went in. The ball is in a raised sand bed and the sand had been raked perfectly smooth and Troy kept saying I don't think we're supposed to climb up in there.
But the GPS and the logs tell us that the cache is on the ball. Troy gets his binoculars and starts checking out the base of the ball but sees nothing so finally he says wait here and jumps up into the sand next to the ball. He runs his hand all over the underside of the ball but comes up with nothing. In the meantime cars are driving around us in the roundabout and the people on the steps to the theater are staring at him like he's crazy. He comes back down and says I didn't find it and I just don't think I'm supposed to be up there and EVERY one of these people are staring at us LOL It was time to head over to the Flash Mob Event so we decided we'd have to take a Did Not Find on this one. Maybe a late night commando mission is how to get this one.
Next we headed for the Pier Park Cache. Pier Park is a new complex being developed that has a movie theater, shops, restaurants and a huge field for festivals. The theater seems to be the only thing open so far but it looks like it will be a great place when it's finished. We determined that the cache we were after was on the other side of the huge field and that driving to it was out of the question. We started walking across the field but Rook had just woken up from a nap and was walking really slow. He was obviously miserable (being woke up and then told to walk a quarter mile across a field in roasting temperatures can not be pleasant LOL)so after a couple of minutes I took pity on him and cancelled the mission. We were back in the car with the AC running in no time LOL That cache will have to wait until everyone is fully awake and it's not 100 degrees outside. As we're cooling off in the car I see a giant beach ball on the other side of the parking lot. One of the caches we are after is called The Big Bounce - hmm. Troy checks the GPS and sure enough the coordinates for that one lead right to the beach ball we were looking at. We were able to park right next to it and let Rook sit in the AC and drink his juice - for which he was quite relieved LOL This beach ball is a giant statue in a roundabout in front of the movie theater and as luck would have it the movies were starting soon there were lots of muggles watching us as they went in. The ball is in a raised sand bed and the sand had been raked perfectly smooth and Troy kept saying I don't think we're supposed to climb up in there.
But the GPS and the logs tell us that the cache is on the ball. Troy gets his binoculars and starts checking out the base of the ball but sees nothing so finally he says wait here and jumps up into the sand next to the ball. He runs his hand all over the underside of the ball but comes up with nothing. In the meantime cars are driving around us in the roundabout and the people on the steps to the theater are staring at him like he's crazy. He comes back down and says I didn't find it and I just don't think I'm supposed to be up there and EVERY one of these people are staring at us LOL It was time to head over to the Flash Mob Event so we decided we'd have to take a Did Not Find on this one. Maybe a late night commando mission is how to get this one.
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