Friday before the holiday break

Since its the Friday before the long holiday weekend many people around here have taken the day off. When I looked out the window I could see the snow sparkle in the sunlight and wanted to share it. Hopefully this turns out.

Cirque Du Soleil

It's been a while since I've posted, so I'll start with a quick update. The caching streak is still alive and at 167 days. Thanksgiving was just Erin and I staying home this year, very relaxing. We've also been starting to run a bit more.

So we decided to head up to Grand Forks to see cirque du soleil. I don't think either one of us knew what to expect other then a good show. We got up early Saturday morning to meet Erik for a run. Erin was a bit nervous about shooting for 6 miles, and I was a little worried as well. I got sick on Thursday and was still feeling a bit off.  The run went well. A good conversation kept our minds busy until mile 4 or so. With the breeze at our back we were all dressed a bit too warm. A few walking breaks helped with that and we finished the day with about 5.5 miles.

After the run we showered, had breakfast and loaded up the Garmins with geocaches to find before filling up with gas and heading North. Our first stop was in Hillsboro to try for a couple of caches we missed earlier in the year. The first was at the golf course which was deserted today. The second was in a bush and was easy without all of the leaves blocking the view. From there we headed up to Buxton where we were unable to find one of the three caches we tried for. After caching in Buxton we headed to Reynolds where we had an odd sense of deja vu. We had passed through here on our bike trip a few years ago on our way to Grand Forks. Once we'd found the 2 caches in Reynolds we made the short trek into Grand Forks.

We picked up a quick cache before stopping for lunch at Five Guys. They had a touchscreen pop dispenser there that was kind of neat. I've heard about them before but never encountered one. Once we were done with lunch we did a little more caching before heading over to the Ralph Engelstad Arena. After picking up our tickets and finding our seats we waited for the show to start.

The show opened with an odd little scene where an audience member was abducted, but after improved after that. One of the first things we noticed was how they could use their set to not only raise and lower hanging props, but move whatever was in the rigging to a back stage area. It was a really neat setup that I am not doing justice with this description. Some of our favorite acts in the show were a guy with a very large hula hoop that could ride around in it, a lady hanging from some scarves, a group of people jump roping, three ladies with diablos and a crowd of acrobats throwing each other around. We were both impressed with everything and would go again.

After the show we headed to a bar in the riverwalk section of East Grand Forks.  The food was good, but the service was terrible. I was also feeling sick again and was ready to head for home, so we decided to head back home.

Geocaching in Jamestown

This weekend Erin and I attended a geocaching event in Jamestown. We got up early on Saturday and headed out of town. Our plan was to get there before the event, find some caches, and then have lunch at the event.  We made it into town a little after 10:00 and went searching for our first finds of the day. There were 2 caches in a park near the interstate, and after some searching we found both.  We then headed into town for the third cache. As we were signing it a car pulled up and someone got out and greeted us.  We were introduced to Minot Ranger was in town for the event.  After chatting with him a bit we decided to team up for the day. We left his car where it was and he hopped in the truck with us. From there we picked up a few more caches, and then met up with a couple of cachers we had met the previous week in Mayville. With this group we found a few more caches until we ran across my manager and he joined the vehicle caravan.  The 8 of us picked up a couple more caches before heading to Perkins for the event.  Just after we arrived at the restaurant it began to snow. I didn't think too much of the snow as we ate and talked with our fellow geocachers.

Erin, Chad, with Mike and 1 of his daughters in the background

After lunch we had just enough time to grab a few more caches before we had to head out of town. I was watching the boys at 6:00 and needed to get back to town. The snow was coming down in large wet flakes at this point. We stopped by a cache we had previously found to help out the other cachers before heading into a park where we had been a couple of weeks ago to pick up a new cache, and one that had been missing when we came through. Jim had already found the caches in the park and was able to help us find them quickly. After we finished up in the park we drove back to Jim's car to drop him off and then we headed back to Fargo. Getting onto the interstate I slide around a bit before regaining control. It was more slippery then I realsed.

Scooping out the guts

That night I got to carve pumpkins with the boys. This was a bit of a stretch for me. I don't have much expertise with pumpkins. Fortunately the boys had done this before and had some idea of what they were doing. I was mainly there for moral support and to assist with sharp objects as needed. We finished off 1 of the pumpkins which looked pretty good when we lit it up with an upside down lamp. It was a fun day.

Taping the template down

One complete pumpkin

I didn't have anything better to light it up, so we turned a lamp upside down to see what it would look like

Geocaching in the mist

Most people would describe the weather on Tuesday as unpleasant.  There was a thick fog all day and misted from time to time.  I really like this kind of weather and all day at work I was excited to get out.  Erin and I had planned to go geocaching with Krisann in Kindred and then grab supper at the bar. When I checked the Kindred caches I noticed 5 new caches Southwest of town that had just been added on some brand new trails. When I got home and told Erin about the new caches she was excited, and when Krisann picked us up we convinced her to give them a try.

It was starting to get dark as we drove. The parking area was a bit hard to spot, but we found it.  Immediately after leaving the car we had to hop a barb wire fence at a crossing and then we were off on the trail.  We brought along a couple of headlamps and a couple of flashlights which gave us enough light to follow the trail.  When we approached the first cache the Garmin's had us in the middle of a grassy area.  Krisann wandered near the treeline, where a mouse caught her attention. It was fortunate, because that was the tree with the cache. We signed the log and began to search for the trail to the next cache.  We went the wrong way before discovering that the trail was partially hidden in the trees.  A local boy scout troop had recently constructed a bridge over a small creek.  Stopping and listening to the water flow was very peaceful on this dark misty night.  We followed the trail until we hit a road, fortunately we found where the trail picked up again on the other side.  At this point the trail was between a raving where the creek was flowing and a corn field.  Soon we came across the next cache.  The Garmin's were a bit off on this one as well, but we were able to find it. From there we had to cross another fence and continued uphill for a while to the third cache, which we found as well.  It was hard to believe we were 3 for 3 in the dark.  Finding the trail after the third cache was a little bit tricky, but we managed.  The trail then looped around to the North where we found our fourth cache of the night.  Even though the Garmin's took us to the right tree this one took us awhile to find. From there we continued to follow the trail until we came to a fork.  Based on the description of the cache we chose the red trail and set out. The trail was narrower and steeper than what we had previously been on. After a bit the trail turned away from where the cache was.  The closest we came was about 500 feet to the cache. We didn't want to walk that far in the woods for fear we'd get lost, or stumble and get hurt in the rugged terrain, so we turned around and walked back to the car. The night was warm enough that we all felt overdressed. On the way back we stopped on the bridge again and turned off the lights and enjoyed the calm of the night.  When we got back to the car we decided to dry driving to where the fifth cache was.  The GPS took us to the edge of a field with no good places to hide a cache. We guessed that the coordinates were off for this cache and headed home.

The next day our suspicions were confirmed as the cache coordinates were updated, and I received an email with updated coordinates. I'm excited to get back out there and find the last cache, but I doubt it will be as magical as the first time we went out there.

Meeting the pirates

A musical stick, drop the washers and they swirl down the rod

Erin in a pirate mask

This weekend has been a busy one. Friday night we went over to watch the boys and stayed overnight. Then Saturday we had a geocaching event in Mayville. As we were preparing to head out, there was a quick change of plans when Sam decided to hang out with his soccer team, leaving Erin, myself and John to make the trip up north.  We arrived a little early to find some existing caches that we had missed last time we were in Mayville. We worked to find a couple of micro caches before heading to rainbow park.  There were lots of interesting things within the park. A kinetic sculpture immediately caught my attention as we walked through the park. We found a threaded rod with washers on it that made a musical sound as they slid down as well as an  herb garden that invited you to sample some of the plants. We found the cache fairly quickly in the park and then wandered around a rock maze before heading out. As we were leaving the park we spotted pirates in a park across the highway.  Figuring we were in the right spot for the gathering of the pirate counsel we headed over to say hello. The family that was hosting the get together were all dressed in full pirate gear. It was neat seeing how much they embraced the pirate theme.  The wind was fairly cold as we waited in a shelter in the park for others to show up. It was fun being able to put faces to some of the caching names we've seen in the past few months. When enough people showed up coordinates were handed out to some temporary geocaches in the park. We set out to find them with an older couple and a couple of the pirate children.  The group dynamic was very friendly. Finding the 7 caches took us about an hour. When we got back to the shelter we were shown travel bugs on several of the cars at the event. We enjoyed seeing how involved with geocaching everyone was. After the event in the park we headed over to a local restaurant to grab some supper and warm up. As we waited for the food, we took a quiz on various pirate phrases. I did fairly well, but was beat out by one person who got just a couple more questions right. Erin and John both won door prizes. On the way back all three of us took turns contributing to a ghost story.

A delightful cache

John holding a temporary cache for the event