Memorial Day Sunday at Estes Park, Colorado

Sunday of Memorial Day weekend found geo-hubby and I taking the long way up the mountain road to Estes Park about an hour from where we live - if you go the short way!  We made a day of it!

We always take the long way around the mountain! We stop to take pictures. We stop and search for geocaches. We stop for chocolate! We stop for a picnic beside a rushing, mountain stream. We stop at interesting places to shop, and, we stop for the furry friends who cross our path.

Today, we experienced all of the above. While the Peak to Peak pass was still closed, we enjoyed all the mountain trip had to offer. Here are some photos from our Sunday outing. (You can click on the photos for a close-up view.)



A cemetery geocache on the way to Estes Park
(It's at the bottom of the tree.)



Geo-hubby comes running with a pen to sign the log.
This one is called Colorado Spirit Quest #77
I was quite excited to find this deep in the Colorado Mountains!
And, I exchanged a cute Caser Angel for a Smilie braclet.

 

Jim's favorite tree - out of reach!
(The photo with him under the rock is still on film.)




Oh yeah! We saw Elk at Estes Park!
There's more photos on film too!




We stopped at an interesting rock store.
A mountain stream ran beside the store.
Too cold for swimming, though!

 

We had our supper picnic at this picnic table at Estes Park
Subway never tasted so good!
And, of course, we had CHOCOLATE for desert!



The Chocolate Store!!!!



Sweet, sweet, chocolate!
And, lots of it.
I think each piece of chocolate cost $1.99



Oh yes, the trip was filled with snow-covered peaks
And unforgettable mountain views!
Too many photos to post!




This is what we always find at Estes Park!



They didn't seem a bit afraid of us as long as we didn't get too close or too noisy!




The Rock Store.
I picked up five small 'animal stones' thinking they were 10-cents each
Ha ha! They were $10 each. (I put them back.)



These rocks were $3 a pound.
I used my cross star filter to show their beauty.
Hopefully, you can zoom in.




More amazing rocks for sale.

 I'll post ore photos later as I develop the film and select additional pictures.

Take Care on the Journey,

A Sea of Grass Becomes a Sky of Rainbow!

This one came over the Internet airwaves before I was up and dressed this morning. I told myself it would be good motivation to get moving, and just maybe be First to Find (FTF)!

You know when there's no job to hurry off to.  No one tapping their feet waiting for you to get out of the bathroom. No breakfast rush. Just me and the cats enjoying the warm sunshine on the cool, shiny, hardwood floors. It's hard to get started on a productive day!

So, "find the new cache' was added to today's "to do" list and gave me some gumption for the day.

Later, as I ran errands and kept an eye on the forbidding, stormy-looking sky, I wondered if I should brave the storm coming in and find that cache. The new cache was hidden in a 'Sea of Grass" and the instructions were to wear long pants and be prepared to walk a little.

Here's a photo I shot as I dashed from the post office (where they never did start forwarding our mail to our new house) to the grocery store (where I discovered my coupons were in the other car!).  It shows the clouds and storm approaching Broomfield and Denver from what is known around here as, "The Front Range".



The "shower" in the distance is headed straight towards our house.

 On my scheduled stops was the hospital to visit the lady we bought the house from. After major surgery, and several more smaller ones, she is still in a  lot of pain and has a long recovery road ahead. I try to stop by and give her a back rub and her mail every day.

I decided to try and find the new cache on the way to the hospital. That would be way over to the right of the 'shower' photo.

After missing the road a couple times and going through the same 4-way intersection several times, I finally got to the point where the GPS showed I should get out and walk... (Pictured)



Yep, there's a lot of grass. A very desolate place with a 'cache" somewhere near!



Yep, move the small rock to find the small Tupperware container with a special FTF,

(Cache In - Trash Out) CITO trackable!  Yipppeee.  My first CITO trackable.

I think I'll give it to my sister when she's here to take back and hide in Florida!

Now to find my car!

And there it was...One of the biggest, most beautiful rainbows I've ever seen!



Back on the highway...The rainbow continued to show its colors!
This an awesomely, beautiful out-in-the-wilderness park.
It was close to the Sea of Grass cache.
Someday soon, I'm taking my husband and sister here to hide a new cache!

May you have many 'rainbow caches"

Take Care on the Journey,

~Linda aka Geo Starcatcher55



Kan's Toy Box #5

I know nothing about Kan's Toy Box 1-4, but this one was a bit of a challenge. (Aren't all toy boxes?)

Check out the photo. What you don't see is a mysterious, furry, fast, little creature that lives next to the "toy box' cache. It scampered away very fast as geo James climbed the little embankment to the hidden treasure.

This is one a few caches where the GPS coordinates were slightly off, and we were originally searching on the other side of the highway until we gave up.

(What kind of dedicated Geocacher GIVES UP?)

A little ways down the road after we found "A View On A Hill 2", geo hubby suggested we go back and look more. After pulling up the site on my geo map, I was able to make out the small bush-like trees on the map. We parked along beside them, and wa-la, we spotted a spot of blue in the stump!

What little animal lives in these holes?  Guarding the blue geocache?

We gave it lots of 'space".

We signed the log book and added some trinkets

to the cache. Which one would you like to trade?

Happy Hunting and Trading!

~Linda

A View On A Hill 2

I pulled hubby out of bed early as it was a lovely day to be geocaching!  (May 5, 2011)

Although I made a treasure hunt list before we left, as usual, we only found part of the caches on my route for the day. Some we had already past. Some were too far away from decent parking. One, we simply couldn't find although we searched high and low.

This is one that hubby found before I even got out of the car.  The photos tell the story.

We like the containers that we can add something to.  We added my 'star', but the Spirit of Sheba coin wouldn't fit in this one.

Happy Smilies!
~Linda

Policeman Educated

I was at work Saturday night when the 'beep' came in on my iPhone that some new geocaches had been placed near our home. I was itching to get out there and be First to Find (FTF), but it would be a couple hours before I'd be off work. 

Getting off work after 16 hours on the job as a nurse, and expected back on duty in five hours usually means dropping into bed for a two or three  hours and hurrying back for another 16 hours. There's no going off the path to hunt new geocaches, or stopping for anything but that nice, warm, soft, bed!

But this Saturday night seemed different. The Mondo's NAT # 67 was just toooo close to home, and according to the Internet page for that cache, no one had gone out to be FTF.

So, I hurried out into the midnight chill with GPS in hand to find the beguiling, Mondo, cache hidden about five blocks from home at a well-lit intersection.

Giant flashlight in hand, I didn't find it as quickly as I thought I would. Not under the lamp post. Not in the scattered trees along the road way. No rocks to look under. Only some massive Prairie Dog holes that I doubted even the most dedicated Geocacher would venture to hid something.



Here's where I found the nano geocache
(Try holding a flashlight and taking a picture)


Oh dear. A spotlight in my face. Only a cop would do that.

"Can I help you?" a young, male, friendly-like voice asked from the interior of the dimly lit police car.

"I'm Geocaching. Have you heard of it?" I asked with hope in my voice and confidence in my tone.

"No, I haven't. What is that?" came the (dreaded) response.

Shucks! Now I was going to have to stop and make an impassioned plea for compassion and understanding why this woman would be stomping around alone on private property in the middle of the night with a flashlight.

Those who know me, understand that it didn't take long for me to hook another new Geocacher into the game. He wished me well, and said he was going to look it up on the Internet to learn more about it.

Here's what I posted on the Internet link for Mondo's latest cache.

FTF May 1, 2011 at 12:03 a.m. This came through when I was at work tonight (RN in Lakewood), so I was sure someone would beat me to it. When I got off work at 11 p.m. and drove home to (...) and checked, no one had logged in, so I hurried back out and was really glad I had a good flashlight!!! Then, I had to explain to a police officer who stopped to check on me what I was doing out there! I had to show him the actual geocache; show him where I found it, and tell him how to find out all about geocaching on the Internet. He was polite about it and wished me good luck. I feel LUCKY tonight. You will too when you find this one. Thanks Mondo!



The tiny, black, round, nano cache.
It's magnetic. Stuck up under the sign, but I pulled it down to take the picture.
I opened it and actually signed a micro log as FTF.
Starcatcher55


 PS  Yesterday, I got an email for "Mondo" congratulating me on being FTF his cache!

Take Care on the Journey,
Watch your back in the dark!
~Linda