Kayaking at Rancho Seco Park

Aaaahhhh! Wonderful day! We headed down to Rancho Seco Park for some geo-kayaking. We had the whole place almost to ourselves. We counted two fishermen and one family at the picnic area. They are behaved and did not interfere with our time on the water. Our goal was to find 6 caches. One of them would give us a square on the California Fizzy Challenge. We were successful in finding all the caches.

The wildlife was incredible. The dragonflies were there in droves until I pulled out the camera. We had one blue heron that surprised us both and flew up right in front of Larry--no cameras ready. He (or she) was absolutely huge. I'm not sure how we missed seeing it but maybe it was couched down in the reeds. This was the first time we have ever heard a heron squawking! Someone suggested later that maybe there was a nest near us. That would explain why we didn't see the Heron until the last minute and why it was trying to attract our attention as it flew away.

Besides the dragonflies that were black and blue (beautiful colors), we saw some drab ones and a few small purple ones. At one point a few butterflies fluttered by and the red-wing blackbirds attracted our attention often. We couldn't be distracted too much, though, because the creeping water plants were taking over! We could go into some of the outlets, but trying to get out was another story. It was weird! They didn't want to let us go!

There were plenty of egrets--they even hung around for pictures. That was one of the good points for going out by ourselves. Normally we are in the back of the pack and any wildlife has been startled away by the first kayakers to approach. Today we were at the front, middle, and back so we had full up close and personal contact with the egrets. We did get some good pictures of them flying away.

We had fish jumping all around us--certainly an argument for a webcam on the kayak! They were all different sizes. Larry claims to have see one with a girth of about 4-5 inches. That equates to a nice size fish. One of the fishermen said he was fishing for bass. If there are bass in that lake, one could have been "that big". At one point, I saw a fish literally walk on water. He came up and scooted along the water for about 2 feet. It was weird to watch but it was definitely a fish and not something else.

As I said, we found all the caches we had intended to find. We replaced three geocache. We had advance permission for two of them. Several people had reported "Did Not Find" so we expected the caches to be missing. We gave it our best effort to find them before we replaced them. The third one, we replaced and notified the owner that we were pretty sure it was missing. We are waiting for their approval.

It was a beautiful day! We could have stayed around longer but the sun was getting hotter and our arms were getting tired. I learned later, that my sunscreen was not protecting me as much as I thought it was. Time to change my sunscreen, or try to remember to apply it more often.

You can geocache with a cold if you have Kleenex

I have a cold. My nose has been running non-stop. I told my son I wouldn't catch his cold! HAH!!! I was supposed to be on a bike ride today. it is impossible to ride and blow my nose at the same time--I'm not one of those no hands riders. Plus, where would I put the box of Kleenex? The problem was solved when we decided to go geocaching! With my Kleenex box and my package of antibacterial wipes we were all set.

We needed a couple of geocaches for some challenges we are trying to complete. One was in Manteca and one was way over in Tuolumne County. We could do it in a day and we could pick up some more along the way. Of course, it would have been easier if we had started earlier but when your nose is congested it is hard to think about moving faster!

Our first stop was probably the highlight cache of the day. It was a virtual cache at a Quickstop market invaded by aliens. They were everywhere! Their space ship had crash landed on the roof. The visitors had taken over the store and they were grabbing everything in sight. What a sight! If you are ever in the neighborhood-- check it out! It's called "Don't Panic" (GC4140). We were having such a great time we didn't have time to
even think about panicking.

We continued trekking down the road and eventually ended up on Hwy 120. We could have continued all the way to Yosemite but I didn't have that much Kleenex with me. The geocaches we found were not spectacular but there were a few interesting containers. The real interest, though, was in the sky. The clouds were incredible. And wouldn't you know it, our camera was back home. I had to resort to taking pictures with my iPad! Surprise! We got some good ones!

We kept going until we arrived at Jamestown and opted to return via Historical Hwy 49. It wasn't the shortest route but it was the more scenic from an historical point of view. We arrived back in Sacramento just in time to compete for our place in the Friday night rush hour getaway traffic. I think it took us longer to get through Sac than it did the rest of the trip. Not to worry. I still had some Kleenex left. Maybe that means I am on the road to recovery. Doesn't matter. All I know for sure is that you can still geocache if you have a cold--and a box of Kleenex!


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Please Bring Back the Virtuals!!

A few days ago we traveled to San Francisco to concentrate on finding all the virtual geocaches there. We found close to 20 (there were some earthcaches thrown in for good measure). What a day!

We saw sights we had never seen before and we have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and surrounding communities all our lives. Treasure Island, for example. We can now say we have been on Treasure Island! We even spent some time gawking at the oversized sculpture. I'm sure it is art but maybe not our form of art.

We checked out the Embarcadero and discovered some new things to us. Of course, we found our way to Fisherman's Wharf and spent some time reminiscing. We stopped at the beach near the old Cliff House and shared a picnic lunch with our friends Dennis and Dorothy (aka 2Dee2Dee).

The Presidio was a must see. We visited Inspiration Point and loved the view in the distance. This virtual required we be creative and post our log as a poem. I'm glad we were able to get a little inspiration while there.

Along the way, we made it to Coit Tower, Mission Delores, Golden Gate Park, and so many more highlights of San Francisco. We didn't have to search any bushes, lift any lamppost skirts, turn over any rocks, or beware of muggles. We just traveled the wonderful streets of SF and took in the incredible views and added to our memory banks. We shared the stories of what used to be compared to what is.

It was such a fun adventure! That is one of the things we love about geocaching. Virtual caches take us places and give us information and don't require that we leave behind any evidence of our visit. Virtual caches are definitely environmental and user friendly. They will slowly disappear as Groundspeak is not allowing new ones to be "hidden". What a shame! Maybe we should start a campaign to bring them back. We certainly enjoyed every one we "discovered"!


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