3 September 2011 County Hunting

We were out searching for caches for the Ohio Great 880. The rock barn was hard to miss. The three visible walls were covered in images of pop, rock, and soul stars from the 60's and 70's. It made quite a sight. Later, we grabbed a cache at the nice covered bridge below.

2 September 2011 Geauga County Fair

We had a great bench seat to watch the hounds race across the pond. They were a no-show this afternoon. :-(

There were two pulls scheduled for the evening. The light-weight class was the Ohio State Championship with a heavy-weight pull to follow. The night was a little strange. About half-way through the light-weight pulls, half the fairgrounds lost power including the barns and the horse pull arena. They continued to pull into the sunset and early darkness, but watching became tough. I have no idea how the teams were being hitched in the dark. We finally gave up at the end of the light-weight pull.

Does a guy parachuting into the main arena make a wrestling match more legitimate?

I'm a sucker for old tractors. I would never have made a good farmer, but I would have enjoyed trying.

While a big part of the fairgrounds was in darkness the generators continued to power the lights and rides of the midway.

Everyone's a winner...

1 September 2011 An Evening Walk At Sunnybrook

30 August 2011 Gully Brook Park

We stopped this evening for a walk at the newest Lake Metropark location. Gully Brook Park is near our homes and would make a nice addition to our rotation of walks. We were both eager to visit. There is a nice, shorter loop trail that winds through newer woods. For our visit this evening we were attacked by hordes of blood-thirsty mosquitoes. I think our return visit will be after the mosquitoes have died back.

After our park walk, we walked down the road to check out the gate at the Louis Penfield House. The home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It is one of only three FLW homes that are available for rental. The rates are a little steep for our budget so the gate is as much as we see in person. It is an interesting gate and a very nice home from the available photos. It still has much of the original furniture which was designed by FLW.

29 August 2011 Sunset?

We stopped by a nearby park in Willowick to complete one of the new Gecaching Challenges with a sunset photo at the park. By the time we got here, the clouds had claimed the sunset so we'll have to return another evening. I did get to log a visit on a nearby historical marker in the park.

28 August 2011 Windy Day in Western New York

The contrast between yesterday and today was dramatic. The pleasant weather of yesterday became cooler temperatures, high winds and big waves.

Even the gulls were staying on shore.

They look like planes lined up on an aircraft carrier.

It was a tough day for Oak Orchard Lighthouse visitors. Ali looks a bit wind blown. We were doing a multi that required walking to the end of the breakwall.

This is a really small lighthouse and diificult to navigate inside.

The view from the lighthouse is probably much nicer on a sunny day.

The weather stayed grey and windy as we made our way home. We had time for a few quick stops in the Lockport/Niagara Falls area before we made the last bit of the drive home.

27 August 2011 Chimney Bluffs

This was our big day around Rochester to find caches in the center section of the Great Lakes Seaway Geotrail. Since this is a long drive from home for us and the geocoins for the trail can only be picked up by visiting the local center, we started off thinking we might be done with the coin requirement and back at the redemption center by the time it closed at 2. We got an early (for us) start, but soon realized the 2p.m. finish wasn't going to happen. We also planned to finish soon enough to be able to spend the evening in my favorite work stop, Lockport (which didn't happen).

Geotrails are a strange mix of pleasure and frustration for me. We started the day at what seemed to be a wonderful park filled with caches about ten minutes from our hotel. This should have been a great mix of trails and caches, except if you wanted the coin you couldn't visit much of the park. So the compromise is to find the geotrail cache and one or two other caches and race off to the next geotrail cache. It's fun and you get to see pieces of the area, but it's like believing you have read a great book because you read the review. I have to work, so spending days in an area isn't an option. In the end, I let Ali be the trail guide and let her pick stuff for us to see. I often whine about the places we miss, but I understand she's picking a great compromise of unique places to visit with what time we have available.

Our second stop after leaving the park was supposed to be at a quarry except the park hadn't opened yet. We passed time by stopping at a local historic village area where we found an old virtual cache. After that we stopped by a farm market which sold bakery and had the breakfast we passed by earlier. The little farm market was a super place to stop. It was nice to push aside caching for a few minutes to just relax at an outside bench and enjoy the day. Surprisingly, I left my camera in the geomobile and never grabbed an image.

The quarry was fun. Old quarries which have been turned into parks are usually fun places to cache. The terrain can be more challenging than the local area and the wildlife sightings are often good.

After the quarry, we traveled mostly along the lake. The weather was perfect for a late summer ride and caching along Lake Ontario. There were plenty of ducks and frogs to be seen on the journey. We stopped for a visit at the lighthouse at Sodus. It's not the most scenic lighthouse, but it is at a pleasant location. It's one of twenty along the great lakes in New York.

Our big stop for the day was at Chimney Bluffs State Park. Ali planned for us to spend a long time at this park. She planned well. This was the fourth super New York State Park on our trip. The bluff formations were amazing. We had a great time and grabbed some old caches. We also had a lot of fun with frogs along the trails and the lower levels. As we walked the mowed paths for a few finds, there were dozens of frogs out in the grass. Every couple of steps one would jump from the mowed area to the tall growth.

Our day ended late, and we still hadn't finished the ten. We grabbed a room in the Rochester area and planned our continued adventures for tomorrow...

26 August 2011 Fillmore Glen and Beyond

We planned to stop at Fillmore Glen to find a 2002 cache. We were once again pleased by the beauty of a New York state park and decided to spend more time exploring the park.

After the park our plans were to find some of the Great Lakes Seaway Geotrail. We hoped to complete the five sections of the trail in the spring, but could not arrange the trip. Today we were visiting caches in the central section of the five sections. Our Seaway Geotrail stops included the location of the boyhood home of Millard Fillmore. It's a nice spot for a cache, but is just a parking lot with an American flag overlooking a field. There's not much of the history of a president here.

One of the caches was placed along a closed road at this old iron bridge.

Our last stops for the evening were along a stream at a canoe launch. The barn in the background gave a nice backdrop for the end of the day.

25 August 2011 Chicago Bog

24 August 2011 Cedar Waxwing at the Office