22 November 2012 Thanksgiving in SGL277

We stopped on our way east to cache at SGL277. Since this was a holiday and the weekend before the start of deer season, the woods were still quiet.

Eva really enjoys running through tall fields.

Some of the cache areas were a little wet this afternoon.

18 November 2012 Wildlife Woods Park

16 November 2012 South Mountain GeoTrail and Home

Today was the day I had a few moments to hunt a couple of South Mountain GeoTrail (SMGT) caches before my journey home. I was in Carlisle and the SMGT office is in Carlisle. It seemed perfect... wrong. The journey ended before it started. I was sad to see the offices closed leaving no way to pick-up the required passport. The trail may be a hit woth locals, but it went to zero for me with the closed office. I decided to hunt a few SMGT caches anyway to see what they were like. My first stop was a resort called Allenberry. Allenberry was pretty amazing and certainly a place I wouldn't mind staying on a future visit. The next SMGT cache was pure retail. The cache was at a farm market. I had a great stop and found some cider, but it wasn't the cache location that makes a geotrail a winner.

My next target for my journey home was at Colonel Denning State Park. It's a new state park for us and had a couple caches in the park. My first stop in the park was at the ranger station for a puzzle cache that was "hidden" in the ranger's station. I was worried the station would be closed, but my real problem was the park employee. She seemed as though she had no knowledge of the cache, but finding the cache requires the assistance of a park employee. It's a great example of why caches should never require interaction with a person. I had fun hunting the one cache in the park that was hidden in the woods. I won't waste my time on a return visit to try finding the puzzle at the ranger's station.

I almost passed by my last find of the day. I was on my way to Port Royal and late to head home as usual when I noticed a game lands cache off the parking area in one of the passes. I was really happy I stopped when I got to the hide location and was given a view of the valley below. It was the highlight of my trip home.

Colonel Denning State Park

View From a Gamelands

11 November 2012 Caching Hudson Parks

10 November 2012 Gates Mills

9 November 2012 Ladue

I'm not really sure what drew me to Ladue this afternoon. Maybe it was another birthday looming. Ladue is a place of happy memories and a sad place to be today. When I first bought my boat, I spent many weekends on this reservoir. At the time, it was managed by the City of Akron and filled on the weekends with little Sunfish sailboats. The boats covered the northern end of the reservoir with a rainbow of sails. I don't think they are popular boats anymore in an age of bigger and more-expensive, gas-powered toys. Today the reservoir is managed by the state of Ohio and looks as run down as so many of the recreational properties run by a state in decline.

I wish I had a picture of Ladue on a day when it was filled with those happy boats. It was a time when there were untold days ahead...

If you were here later in the morning and didn't have an annual permit, you would stand in a line that wound outside the door. There's no lines anymore.

A remnant of the past remains on the old boathouse.

The old parking area is giving way to nature again. The sounds of happy days on the water have passed.

6 November 2012 Sneaking Out

Eva's usually a good patient, but this time she keeps pulling stiches. Since she needs to be watched closely, I've been staying near home. I wanted to get away for a few minutes so I headed off to Half Price Books to enjoy a few minutes of browsing.

5 November 2012 Eva

We had surgery scheduled for Eva on our return from Arizona. She had three growths and most likely a return of her cancer. Two of the three growths were okay, but the third confirmed her cancer was still present. She's a good dog and a happy trail companion. Hopefully, she has many more walks once her surgery wounds have healed.

31 October 2012 Tucson to Cleveland

It was a bit of a disappointment.

30 October 2012 Saguaro National Park

29 October 2012 San Pedro and Patagonia Lake

We passed by the San Pedro River on Saturday with the agreed plan to fit in a walk in the National Conservation Area if we could find space in our trip. We made time and were both happy for a chance to enjoy the trail. The entrance area is a gathering point for hummingbirds. The trail was filled with birds and butterflies. We enjoyed finding a few caches along the way.

Our second big stop for the day was Patagonia Lake State Park. We had hoped to rent a canoe and paddle to a few caches, but we arrived too late for rentals. We enjoyed a great afternoon and early evening at this oasis. There was large population of waterfowl on the lake. Too bad my picture taking skills weren't up to the task

28 October 2012 Bisbee

The bumper sticker says it all. After the mine tour, we made our way over to Bisbee and dropped the rental in a parking lot. Our first stop was at an odd retail store that was a mix of vintage items and local stuff. The shop is the home to souveniers for Zed's Zombie Ranch and the Zombie Miners' local. We each gathered a souvenir from the trip and headed off to explore.

Ali had found a puzzle cache that gave starting coordiantes for a local landmark and progressed with a walk about town looking for other items identified on the cache page. It was a perfect way to explore Bisbee. The town is unique. It is a mixture of old mining town forced into a space between and the up the side of the mountains and a strange artist colony. We both had a great time walking through the town. After we climbed all over the stairs throughout the town and found the cache we headed off for a climb to a cache overlooking the town. An afternoon of caching and exploring the town followed by a really nice pizza in town made for an enjoyable day.