August is never a big geocaching month for us. I'm gearing up to go back to school, and the weather in Texas is usually at its hottest. This month we had RiffTrax, Ranger games, and concerts during this month also! August is also the month for International Geocaching Day though, and Groundspeak usually has some special tasks for us!  This year we had to find a cache with 10 or more favorite points, a multi, a puzzle, and find one on the 20th. We were able to complete all of those tasks!

 This cool sculpture is the center point of the one with more than 10 favorite points! Eyes Without A Face

 One the morning that we were heading out to find a multi-cache, we discovered that there was a cache right behind the restaurant where we were eating breakfast! We had to grab that one first!  I liked the way that the cache owner had tethered the bison tube. I think that is a pathtag keychain attaching it to the zip tie!

I had solved a chatbot puzzle awhile ago, and it just happened that we were going to Denton via I-35 East on the weekend that a puzzle cache was the goal. It wasn't too terribly out of the way and we ended up going to a Half Price Books and a Daiso that was on our way back to the highway....sort of!

Not too many caching photos in August; however, it is always fun completing the little challenges that emerge during that month.

One part of the geocaching experience is trackables. Some people love to discover them at events. Some love to wear nametags and be discovered. Others love to find them in caches to move to the next location. This post is about a special bug that started traveling in 2006!

I received a grant that year for 50 travel bug tags and 12 Garmin GPSrs to use in my 4th grade classroom. Each of my students provided a traveler, wrote up a goal and description and watched the progress for the year. We utilized the data for all core subjects! Of course many of the  tbs went missing quickly, but we had enough to watch that year. A few of my students created their own accounts and adopted their TBs. Most of them stayed in my name though.

Here's the TB page

I was notified that this bug was missing or that the whole cache was missing, so I decided to recycle the number. I erased the logs (if there were any) and changed the name. That's as far as I went though for some reason.

How the TB was mailed to me

Fast forward to the 2015-2016 school year. Someone mails this bug to me without giving their name or location. I did some detective work and determined that the box came from Kansas, but I was never able to figure out from cache logs that this was even dropped in any of the caches near Tin Cup, Colorado. Of course I only looked at the ones right at Tin Cup!

Close up so that the note can be read

When the 2016-2017 school year begins, I'll be putting this out after I talk about it with my new 2nd graders. I hope it continues on its journeys!

Original laminated paperwork is even with the TB

Geowoodstock 14er - Sunday and Homeward Bound

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Today was the day of the big event! Our lodging was less than 5 miles from the event location, so we thought we'd cache a bit before heading to the parking lot. That was a good plan because traffic was backed up for miles until they opened the lots! We even went to a nearby Target to shop for a bit. Dark Star and I are morning people and since we are staying in a later time zone, our bodies are getting us up at our normal time! That gives us more time each day to sightsee, have breakfast and cache!

 I photograph thistle whenever I see it. I just love it! This was near our first cache of the day.

 There were 3 caches I had loaded for this nature center between our hotel and the botanical gardens where the event was held. That balloon is probably flying over the event grounds actually!

 The dandelions were so huge and beautiful!

 I was hesitant to go for this cache because prior logs mentioned rattlesnakes! Robert had his walking stick and went first and said we'd be fine. The cache was not on the structure, but very near to it. We never saw a single snake. I like to look at the cache pages when I get home, and I noticed that this cache was disabled days after we were there due to snake activity. EEEK!

 This was our second of three caches to find in Hildebrand Ranch Sunday morning. This one wasn't nearly as snakey looking, but I was still on guard!

 It was so nice to see clean creeks wherever we were. So often trash is hanging around!

 I loved caching in these foothills. We were still winded, but it was a nice path to the 3rd and final cache in this area. Of course, the cache was down a steep hill that Robert slipped down while I went to find a kinder, gentler way in!

 We drove down to the venue and it was still not open and traffic was backed up both ways. We decided to travel down 121 to see what caches we could find until 10:00. We ended up finding this nice little area just outside of Roxborough Park. It was just far enough away and took us just enough time so that parking was a piece of cake when we returned to Chatfield Botanical Garden.

 These are the same line of mountains and foothills that we could see from our lodging. This was the view from the cache in Roxborough Park.

 Whenever we go to a GeoWoodstock, Dark Star has to pose with this sign. The top photo on the left side is of Darth Vader, El Bruto and a Stormtrooper from the GW that was in Texas!

 I like to pose in front of school houses! This one was not open to the public.

 Obligatory Signal Photo....Signal Story-I was supposed to be Signal at the Texas Challenge that was held in North Texas at Ray Roberts Lake State Park. The suit was late and stuck at the airport, then it rained and rained and rained! Looking at the suit, I think I'm a tad short anyway! There are rules to being Signal. One was that you are not to talk while in the suit. When we were at the GeoWoodstock in Indiana, we were posing with Signal and he said "Hello, Robert!" just loud enough for us to hear! Not Dark Star, but Robert, so it was someone we know well. We never found out who it was!

 We found a nice, big rock in the shade to rest for a few minutes before continuing to explore the area. That rock was popular that day!

Human Travel Bugs!

Monday, July 4th

 We left Denver early in the morning to head towards the Colorado Gator Farm. We chose to drive 285 and it was a beautiful drive. We were going to go to Garden of the Gods, but figured that on the holiday, it would be busy. When Robert saw a flyer for the Gator farm and we saw that it was on our way home, it was a no brainer! I was so excited to see some elk! We saw signs for elk, bear, and bighorn sheep, but elk and deer were all we saw. I'm okay with that!

 Our views for most of the morning

 Loved the views on our 285 drive

 We had breakfast in this quaint Colorado village! This was Fairplay aka South Park! We ate at the Brown Burro. We walked around a bit before heading out, but couldn't look for caches because we had no cell phone service.

 Heading out of the mountains that we have been surrounded by for several days.

 I fed a tortoise at the Colorado Gator Farm! I was warned not to let him get too close to my fingers!

 This guy might be small, but he was strong! When I let go of his tail so that the man could get him back, he slapped Robert in the neck with his tail. He tried to twist around and bite Robert, but Robert didn't let go! Too bad I didn't get a video of that!

 We were nearing the New Mexico border and I spied this cool geological feature. I did some digging (Ha! Ha! Geology humor) around Google layers until I found out that this is called Goemmer Butte.

 This was a sign at the Donley County Safety Rest Area on 287 in Texas. You don't have to tell me twice!

We found very few caches on the way home. This was behind a cool, but closed, store. Yay, an ammo can! The rest of our trip was driving, listening to tunes, and stopping for a snack or drink here or there! We really enjoyed this road trip!

Geowoodstock 14er- Wednesday through Saturday

This year, Geowoodstock was in Denver on July 3rd. I took just over 800 photos, so here are just a few to overview our trip. Here is my flickr album for anyone interested:  https://www.flickr.com/gp/txdiva/hz8T68

Dark Star and I headed out the Wednesday before to drive through Oklahoma and Kansas. We didn't cache too much on Wednesday and made it to Hays, Kansas to spend the night.

Wednesday, June 29th, 2016

                                              Sunrise in Oklahoma at "Magnetic Hill Oklahoma"
                                        When I put the car in neutral it seemed to move UP hill!

       Dark Star with the cache.

 I drove my car forward to the next telephone pole before putting it in neutral. It started heading back to the cache site!

 This location in Rosehill, Kansas was a must do for today. There were so many neat metal sculptures here. 

"Hold The Anchovies" was a virtual cache. We didn't know what we would find here. This was on the Wichita State University campus.

Thursday, June 30th

We got up Thursday morning before sunrise to go get "Mingo," the oldest active cache in the U.S.A. It started raining  and lightning was lighting up the whole sky just as we started out. Thankfully, we drive out of it quickly and the weather was perfect by the time we got to Mingo. We found a few caches in Kansas on our way to Denver.  Our room wasn't ready at the Dino Themed Best Western so we found a couple of caches in the area before we could check in. 

 Mingo

 The World's Largest Easel, Goodland, KS

 Cute Chipmunk near the Easel

 Dino Themed Best Western in Denver

 Cute cache container in the Best Western parking lot

 We were driving to the foothills when the hotel let us know our room was ready.

 We attended our first event of the weekend. GC6EB4A GW14er:Denver  Craft Brew 

We got tiny souvenir shot glasses and a punch card for free samples. 

Friday, July 1st

We did some sightseeing on Friday, July 1st. First stop was the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in nearby Morrison, Colorado. 

 We've attended a concert here in the past, but I was excited to explore during the day. Hundreds of people use it for cardio! I was impressed.

 Red Rocks

 Next, we headed to Golden, Colorado to visit Buffalo Bill's Gravesite and Museum. It was so beautiful on Lookout Mountain! We were there right when it opened and no one else was there. It was peaceful. When we left the museum, the mist and fog had rolled into the parking lot and we could barely see our car! So cool!

 Our next stop for the day was Tiny Town. I enjoyed walking around here. I was afraid it would be crowded, but it wasn't bad at all!

 I found some more micro brews!

 There was a building with "Donna" on it and then this one that said "Turner!"

 After allowing me to choose all the other things, it was time to see something Robert was interested in! We headed back to Denver to see Alfred Packer's grave.

Alfred Packer was a prospector who admitted to killing and eating his traveling partners to survive. The movie "Cannibal! The Musical" was based on his life. It was created by the South Park guys, so take that for what it's worth!

Saturday, July 2nd

We went to the Meet and Greet event at a really cute bar and grill. The line was crazy long, but it was okay because we spent the time trading pathtags and chatting with fellow geocachers. After getting our GW items, we set off for Boulder for the day. There was a farmer's market going on in Central Park so we had plenty to do and see before heading to Folsom Field to hang out in Shakedown Street before the Dead & Company concert. We didn't have tickets, but wanted to see what things we could buy. I got a tour shirt and a pin. 

 I saw that one of my friends had found this cache the day before, so when I saw that it was between our hotel and the Meet and Greet, I had to find it!

 Hanging out at the Platte River Bar and Grill to get our GeoWoodstock SWAG!

 I spied some Texas friends in the parking lot as I was getting closer to the registration tables!

 This was the view from the parking garage in Boulder that we ended up finding. It was not too far from the Farmer's Market or Pearle Street. We found out when we left that it was FREE!  SCORE!

 Boulder, CO

 An interesting Halloween-themed front yard in Boulder

 I purchased the shirt on the left on Pearle Street and the one on the left at Folsom Field. I love how they have merch booths outside of concerts now! The pins were all from Pearle Street except for the bear pin.