I’ve been through the town of Pomeroy, WA, a couple of times. The first, in 2010, was during my last Cycle Oregon, which I had to DNF shortly thereafter because I’d acquired Achilles tendonosis. That was extra unfortunate because I was over 40, and it took a long time to heal. However before then I enjoying the undulating landscape of the Palouse, occasionally stopping for geocaches. Long and climbing road ...
After my time in Iceland, I spent a few days to see Prague, which is renowned for its history and the excellent geocaching community. It did not disappoint. Day 1 Summary:_ ****Fly from Keflavik, arriving early afternoon. Check into the apartment rental. If time permitted, exchange currency, then wander to the meeting point for the Taste of Prague food tour. Sleep._ The American version of airports. The night before, I dropped off my rental car and walked to the airport hotel two blocks from Keflavik International. Thinking the US airport experience was the norm, specifically, a lot of time-wasted because of security theater, I planned to be up and out the door by 4:30 a.m. to do all the security hoops for my 7 a.m. flight. ...
… must come to an end. For my last day, I had an early reservation at the Sky Lagoon, which is an Oceanside geothermal lagoon closer into town. I just could not get myself interested in the Blue Lagoon on this visit. Although I brought my swimsuit, I ended up renting one so I wouldn’t have to deal with a wet garment in my suitcase. Sky Lagoon’s “The Ritual” is eloquently explained on their website, but I would summarize as alternating between hotter and colder forms of water. Towards the end, you rub oily salt on your body, then walk into a steam furnace until you absolutely cannot take it anymore, grope for the exit, and take a normal shower. The transitions, especially hot to cold, are surprisingly invigorating. ...
Today, my last night in Reykjavik, I spent the morning geocaching around Petrin, checking out the ruins of Oskjuhlid Hill, a WW2 relic. The walk from downtown was a lot longer than I had planned for, but it was basically Seattle weather, and nice to be outdoors: Stairs to ??? WW2 structure Bunker On the way back, I was enjoying checking out the local street murals. The cat-stronaut is one of my favorites, but there are several solid works. My favorite ...
What a difference two days makes. After visiting Gullfoss and Gljúfurárfoss on Monday, in the heavy rain and wind, I rolled into parking for Skógafoss, stopped maybe 10 minutes, then noped out of there for different, equally blustery options. Because of the orange weather alert and closed roads, yesterday’s highlight was … clean laundry. Thus, this morning’s cold, clear and calm was extra alluring. I mean, what about this doesn’t just say “go outdoors, now. Okay, you can have breakfast first, but then get outdoors!”? ...
The jet lag last night was rough. I think I had a total of nine hours sleep (which is good) but spread over 13 hours attempted (not good), including some surreal dreams. But I was feeling more human again. I started off the day with a latte and an Icelandic vegetarian breakfast of chia pudding and toast with hummus and chutney. Tastes better than it looks! Having abstained from coffee for two weeks prior to my trip, the latte had the effect of perking me up quickly. First stop of the Golden Circle was Þingvellir National Park, which became a UNESCO site for the historical significance — the AlIÞing‘s (Icelandic parliament) formation over a millennium ago. It’s as equally interesting geologically, as it’s the intersection of two continental plates. Just say no to crack? ...
Like a lot of folks, I had to cancel my travel plans in 2020 – this was a March trip to New York City — which left me with a moderate chunk of air travel credit$. I used some of them to visit the oldest geocaches Kansasand Colorado last year, but about by late December of last year, I still had a sizeable amount left and they were expiring. I couldn’t get my family to agree on anything, so I booked a trip to Boston in September. I hadn’t thought too deeply about it until July, when the trip seemed more likely than not to occur. ...
The cache lifecycle. I like that any cacher can log an appropriate needs maintenance/archive, but I find local cachers are often reluctant to do so. Nearly every time I travel, I find dozens of hides with super obvious issues (e.g., hasn’t been found in a few years, streak of DNFs, CO appears to have left the game). I’ve been logging a lot of NM on caches 3000km away so I don’t waste time on them when I’m there. Doing my part to clean up Charlottetown, PEI ...
The second half of my geocation was in Colorado. With some potentially dicey weather en route (midwest Thunderstorms), my plan was to drive from Mt Sunflower all the way to Tarryall (GC18), the oldest cache in Colorado, then pick up caches (as weather permitted) on the way back to my motel. Departing Mt. Sunflower, KS This part of Western Kansas/Eastern Colorado feels endless with no official rest stops. I stopped a few times to stretch my legs, grab a quick park-and-grab cache (enough to claim the county), and pee. The night before, I picked up some extra tamales at Los Jarochos food truck in Colby to munch on at an appropriate point. Cell coverage was very limited, I was really glad I had pre-downloaded music and a few (good) audio (meh) books (great). I wish the Netflix app would let one play just the soundtrack to music without having the video screen go. The scene before Lake Urine spontaneously appeared next to my car ...
Day 1: Denver Intergalactic Airport to Arikaree (GC31) and Mingo (GC30) I took the early flight from Seattle to Denver, not checking a bag to hasten my departure from the airport in hopes of grabbing Mingo (GC30) — the oldest active geocache — and Arikaree (GC31), nearly as old. I soon ended up on a very lonely road, headed east to Nebraska. The first stop was the triple-point intersection of Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, a completely arbitrary waypoint that I’d have no other chance to stop at and claim a virtual cache. Unbeknownst, I’d not only left Settlers of Catan running in the foreground, I also hadn’t plugged the charger cable in right. No battery. I plopped the alternate battery in near Texas Trail Canyon. Hey, I’m in Nebraska! (Also, we really fucked the locals over.) ...